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FOOTSTEPS    OF    DR.    JOHNSON 


«'Tis  pleasant  through  the  loop-holes  of  retreat 
To  peep  at  such  a  world." 


SAMUEL  JOHNSON.  L.L.D. 

AFTER  THE  PORTPAIT  IN  THE  NATIONAL  GALLERY 
BY  SIR  JOSHUA    REYNOLDS. 


Footsteps  of  Dr.  Johnson 


rv- 

v. 


(SCOTLAND) 


BY 

GEORGE  BIRKBECK  HILL,  D.CL. 

PEMBROKE   COLLEGE,   OXFORD 
WITH    ILLUSTRATIONS   BY   LANCELOT  SPEED 


LONDON : 
SAMPSON    LOW,  MARSTON,  SEARLE  &   RIVINGTON 

(LIMITED) 

S>t.  Dunstan's  Jtyougr,  Jitter  ILanc 
1890. 


CIHSWICK    I'KKSS  :— C.    WIIITTINGHAM    AND    CO.,     1 OOKS   C< 
CHANCERY   LANE,    LONDON. 


TO 

pctou  anti 

OF 

3)ol)n0on  Club, 

(MOST  CLUBABLE  OF  MEN) 

IN    MEMORY    OF 

PLEASANT      EVENINGS      SPENT      WITH      THEM      IN 
FLfcET    STREET,    LICHFIELD,    AND    OXFORD, 

5Tf)i8  ffljftocfe  is  Brticateto. 


PREFACE. 


the  beginning  of  last  year,  at  the  request  of  Messrs. 
Sampson  Low  and  Co.,  I  began  to  prepare  a  work  in 
which,  under  the  title  of  Footsteps  of  Dr.  Johnson,  I 
was  to  describe  the  various  places  that  he  had  either 
inhabited  or  visited.  It  was  to  be  copiously  illustrated  with  views. 
I  had  made  considerable  progress  with  my  task  when  I  saw  that 
its  extent  required  that  it  should  be  divided  into  two  separate 
works.  Scotland  in  itself  afforded  ample  materials  for  at  least  a 
single  volume.  In  this  opinion  I  was  confirmed  by  my  friend 
Mr.  Lancelot  Speed,  the  artist  who  was  to  prepare  the  illustrations. 
My  publishers  yielded  to  our  advice  and  allowed  us  to  confine 
ourselves  entirely  to  that  country.  The  materials  which  I  had  got 
together  for  England  and  Wales  I  have  put  on  one  side,  in  the 
hope  that  the  present  venture  will  prove  sufficiently  successful  to 
encourage  author,  artist,  and  publishers  alike  to  follow  it  up  with  a 
companion  work. 

Of  Johnson's  journey  through  Scotland  we  have  three  different 
accounts,  his  Letters  to  Mrs.  Thralc,  his  Journey  to  the  Western 
Islands,  and  Boswell's  Journal  of  a  To^tr  to  the  Hebrides.  In 
writing  his  Journey  he  may  have  had  before  him  the  letters  which 
he  had  written  on  the  spot.  Many  interesting  circumstances, 
however,  which  he  mentioned  in  them  he  omitted  in  his  formal 
narrative.  Boswell's  Journal,  though  published  ten  years  after 
Johnson's  work,  was  written  first;  and  it  was  not  only  written,  but 
it  was  published  before  the  publication  of  the  Letters.  His  single 
account,  therefore,  and  Johnson's  two  accounts  are  independent 
narratives.  It  would  have  been  easy  to  weave  all  three  together 
into  one  work,  and  to  have  done  nothing  more.  It  went,  however, 


viii  PREFACE. 

against  the  grain  with  me  to  make  a  mixture  of  that  sort.  I  he 
plan  which  I  have  pursued  has  been  much  more  laborious  ;  but  it 
will,  I  trust,  commend  itself  both  to  "the  gentle  reader" — who  is, 
I  take  it,  a  somewhat  indolent  reader — and  also  to  the  student  of 
the  manners  and  customs  of  a  past  age.  Of  all  history  there  was 
no  part  which  Johnson  held  equal  in  value  to  the  history  of 
manners.  With  this  judgment  my  own  taste  leads  me  to  agree. 
I  take  far  greater  interest  in  the  daily  life,  the  briars  and  roses  of 
the  working-day  world  as  it  was  known  to  our  forefathers,  than  in 
all  the  conquests  of  Chatham  and  of  Clive.  I  have  made,  there- 
fore, the  attempt  to  bring  before  my  readers  the  Scotland  which 
Johnson  saw,  the  Scotland  which  he  had  expressly  come  to  study. 
"  The  wild  objects  "  which  he  said  he  wished  to  see  I  have  not 
neglected,  but  here  I  trust  chiefly  to  Mr.  Speed's  art.  "  The 
peculiar  manners"  which  interested  him  far  more  than  natural 
objects  have  been  my  special  study.  Even  before  I  took  the 
present  work  in  hand  I  had  examined  them  somewhat  closely  ; 
but  last  summer,  on  my  return  from  Scotland,  in  a  quiet  recess  of 
the  Bodleian  Library,  I  carried  my  inquiries  a  good  deal  farther. 
In  covering  so  large  an  extent  of  ground  and  in  such  a  mass  of 
details  it  is  idle  to  hope  that  no  error  has  been  made.  I  can 
honestly  say  that  I  have  done  my  best  to  be  accurate. 

The  country  which  Johnson  traversed  is  famous  for  other  foot- 
steps besides  his.  I  have  called  in  the  earlier  and  later  travellers  to 
add  interest  to  the  scene,  and  I  have  thrown  in  anecdotes  with  a 
liberal  hand.  "  I  love  anecdotes,"  he  said.  To  Boswell's  descrip- 
tions of  the  men  with  whom  he  associated  I  have  often  been  able 
to  add  a  great  deal  from  memoirs  and  other  books  to  which  that 
writer  had  not  access ;  I  have  gathered  some  few  traditions  of  the 
Sassenach  mo/ir,  the  big  Englishman,  which  still  linger  in  the 
Highlands  and  the  Hebrides. 

The  tour  in  which  I  followed  his  course  I  was  forced  to  divide 
into  two  parts.  Beginning  at  Inverness  I  went  first  through  the 
Western  Highlands  and  the  Hebrides,  and  so  southwards  through 
Glasgow  to  Auchinleck,  Boswell's  home  in  Ayrshire.  Later  on  I 
visited  Edinburgh  and  its  neighbourhood,  and  completed  my  task 
by  going  northwards  to  Inverness.  I  mention  this  to  guard  against 
any  apparent  inaccuracy  in  dates  which  might  be  discovered  in  my 
narrative.  I  cannot  pretend  to  have  seen  every  place  which 
Johnson  saw ;  but  those  spots  which  I  passed  by  are  few  in 


PREFACE.  ix 

number.  In  the  former  part  of  my  trip  I  was  fortunate  enough 
to  have  Mr.  Speed  lor  my  companion  ;  but  over  the  latter  part  of 
the  ground  we  had,  to  my  regret,  to  travel  at  different  times.  Like 
Boswell  he  had  done  much  "  to  counteract  the  inconveniences  of 
travel." 

I  have  the  pleasant  duty  of  expressing  my  acknowledgments 
for  the  kindness  with  which  I  was  received  and  for  the  assistance 
which  was  given  me  in  my  inquiries.  Most  of  all  am  I  indebted 
to  the  Rev.  Roderick  Macleod,  of  Macleod,  Vicar  of  Bolney, 
who,  by  the  numerous  introductions  with  which  he  honoured  me, 
greatly  facilitated  my  progress  in  the  Isle  of  Skye.  To  his  father 
Macleod  of  Macleod,  and  his  aunt,  Miss  Macleod  of  Macleod,  I  am 
under  great  obligations.  My  thanks  are  due  also  to  the  Duke  of 
Argyle;  the  Earl  of  Cawdor;  the  Earl  of  Erroll;  Sir  Charles 
Dalrymple,  of  New  Hailes ;  Captain  Burnett,  of  Monboddo 
House;  Mr.  Macleane  of  Lochbuie;  Mr.  John  Lome  Stewart,  Laird 
of  Coll;  Mr.  J.  Maitland  Anderson,  Librarian  of  the  University 
of  St.  Andrews;  Mr.  G.  J.  Campbell,  of  Inverness;  Mr.  P.  M. 
Cran,  the  City  Chamberlain,  and  Mr.  William  Gordon,  the  Town 
Clerk  of  Aberdeen ;  Mr.  Lachlan  Mackintosh,  of  Old  Lodge, 
Elgin ;  Dr.  Paterson,  of  Clifton  Bank,  St.  Andrews ;  Professor 
Stephenson,  of  the  University  of  Aberdeen  ;  Mr.  A.  E.  Stewart,  of 
Raasay ;  and  to  my  friend  Mr.  G.  J.  Burch,  B.A.,  Librarian  of  the 
Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  for  some  time  the  Compiler  of  the 
Subject  Catalogue  in  the  Bodleian  Library. 

To  my  friend,  General  Cadell,  C.B.,  of  Cockenzie  House,  I  owe 
the  sketches  of  the  ruins  of  Ballencrieff,  and  of  a  group  of  ash- 
trees  which  were  said  to  have  been  planted  on  Johnson's  suggestion. 

Both  at  I nverary  Castle  and  at  Dunvegan  Castle  I  was  allowed 
to  have  photographs  taken  not  only  of  the  rooms,  but  also  of  the 
interesting  portraits  of  the  former  owners  who  had  been  Johnson's 
hosts. 

To  the  Rev.  Alexander  Matheson,  minister  of  Glenshiel,  who 
came  many  miles  over  the  mountains  to  help  me  with  his  know- 
ledge as  a  local  antiquary,  I  am,  alas!  too  late  in  bringing  my 
acknowledgments  It  was  with  great  regret  that  early  in  the 
spring  I  learnt  of  the  sudden  death  of  this  amiable  man. 

I  have  once  more  the  pleasure  of  giving  my  thanks  to  Mr.  G. 
K.  Fortescue,  Superintendent  of  the  Reading  Room  of  the  British 
Museum,  who  does  so  much  to  lighten  the  labours  of  the  student. 


x  PREFACE. 

Should  any  of  my  readers  be  able  to  add  to  the  traditions  of 
Johnson  which  1  have  collected,  or  to  throw  light  on  any  of  the 
questions  which  I  have  investigated  I  trust  that  they  will  honour 
me  with  their  communications.  Hope  comes  to  all,  and  a  second 
edition  of  these  Footsteps  is  within  the  range  of  possibility.  In  it 
their  kindness  shall  meet  with  proper  acknowledgment. 

G.  B.   H. 

OXFORD  ;  July  4///,  1890. 


TITLES    OF    MOST    OF    THE   WORKS    QUOTED 
IN    THIS    BOOK. 


The  date  in  each  case  shows,  not  the  year  of  the  original  publication,  but  of  the  edition  to 

which  I  have  referred. 


An  Act  for  Abolishing  the  Hercditable 
Jurisdictions.  1747. 

An  Act  to  Amend  the  Disarming  Act  of 
the  i  g  Geo,  II.,  made  in  the  21 
Geo.  II.  Edinburgh,  1748. 

Annual  Register. 

Armstrong,  Mostyn  J.  An  Actual 
Survey  of  the  great  Post- Roads  between 
London  and  Edinburgh.  and  cd. 

1783- 

Arnot,  Hugo.  History  of  Edinbitrgh. 
Edinburgh,  ist  cd.  1779:  2nd  ed. 
1788. 

Beattie,  James.  Essays  on  Poetry  and 
Music.  3rd  ed.  London,  1779. 
Scotticisms.  Edinburgh,  1787.  Life, 
by  Sir  William  Forbes.  London, 
1824. 

Berkeley,  George  Monck.  Poems.  Lon- 
don, 1797. 

Boswell,  Sir  Alexander.  Songs  chiefly 
in  the  Scottish  Dialect.  Edinburgh, 
1803.  (Published  anonymously.) 

Boswell,  James.  Life  of  Johnson  and 
Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Hebrides,  ed. 
by  J.  W.  Croker,  i  vol.,  8vo.,  1848  ; 
and  by  G.  B.  Hill,  6  vols.,  Oxford, 
1887.  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the 
Hebrides,  ed.  by  R.  Carruthers.  Let- 


tei-s  to  the  Rev.  W.  J.  Temple.  Lon- 
don, 1857.  Boswelliana,  ed.  by 
Charles  Rogers.  London,  1874. 
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Erskine,  ed.  by  G.  B.  Hill.  London, 
1879. 

Buchanan,  J.  L.    Travels  in  the  Western 
Highlands  from  1782  to  1790. 


Camden,  William.  Description  of  Scot- 
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Carlyle,  Thomas.  Early  Letters,  ed. 
by  C.  E.  Norton.  2  vols.  London, 
1886.  Reminiscences,  ed.  by  J.  A. 
Froude.  London,  1881. 

Castellated  and  Domestic  Architecture  of 
Scotland,  by  David  Macgibbon  and 
Thomas  Ross.  3  vols.  Edinburgh, 
1887-9. 

Chalmers,  George.  Life  of  Thomas 
Ruddiman.  London  and  Edinburgh, 
1794. 

Chambers,  Robert.  Traditions  of  Edin- 
burgh. London  and  Edinburgh,  2 
vols.,  1825  ;  i  vol.,  1869.  History 
of  the  Rebellion  in  Scotland,  1745. 
2  vols.  Constable's  Miscellany,  1827. 


XII 


TITLES   OF   WORKS    OUOTEI). 


Cockburn,  Lord.  Life  of  Lord  Jeffrey. 
2  vols.  Edinburgh,  1852.  Memo- 
rials of  His  Time,  i  vol.  1856. 

Court  and  City  Register  for  1769. 
London. 

Cox.  G.  V.  Recollections  of  Oxford. 
London,  1868. 

Creech,  William.  Letters  respecting  the 
Trade,  Manners,  &°c.,  of  Edinburgh. 
(Published  anonymously.)  Edin- 
burgh, 1793. 

Crokcr,.  John  Wilson.  Correspondence 
and  Diaries,  ed.  by  L.  J.  Jennings. 
London,  1884. 

D'Arblay,  Mme.  Diary.  7  vols.  Lon- 
don, 1842.  Memoirs  of  Dr.  Burney. 
3  vols.  London,  1832. 

Defoe,  Daniel.  Tour  through  the  whole 
Island  of  Great  Britain  by  a  Gentle- 
man. Vol.  3.  London,  1727. 

Douglas,  Francis.  A  General  Descrip- 
tion of  the  East  Coast  of  Scotland. 
Paisley,  1782. 

Dunbar,  E.  D.  Social  Life  in  Former 
Days.  2  vols.  Edinburgh,  1865-6. 

Edinburgh  Chronicle,  or  Universal  In- 
telligencer for  1759-60. 

Edinburgh.  Tlie  City  Cleaned  and 
Country  fmproven.  Edinburgh,  1760. 

Edinburgh  Directory  for  1773-4,  by 
Peter  Williamson.  Reprint,  William 
Brown.  Edinburgh,  1889. 

Edinburgh.  History  and  Statutes  of 
the  Royal  Infirmary  of  Edinburgh, 
1749.  Regulations  for  the.  Work- 
house. Edinburgh,  1750.  For  the 
History  of  Edinburgh,  see  ARNOT, 
and  for  Letters  from  Edinburgh,  see 
TOPHAM. 

Eldon,  Life  of  Lord  Chancellor.  By 
Horace  Twiss.  2  vols.  1846. 

Essay  upon  Feudal  Holdings,  Superiori- 
ties, and  Hereditary  Jurisdictions  in 
Scotland.  London,  1747. 

Excursion  to  the  Lakes  in  Westmoreland 
and  Cumberland  in  1773.  London, 
1774- 


Forster,  John.  Life  of  Oliver  Gold- 
smith. J  vols.  London,  1871. 

(larnett,  T.  M.  I).  Observations  on  a 
Tour  through  tlie  Highlands,  &°c. 
2  vols.  London,  1800. 

Garrick,  David.  Private  Correspon- 
dence. 2  vols.  London,  1831. 

Gentleman's  Magazine. 

Gibbon,  Edward.  Miscellaneous  Works. 
5  vols.  London,  1814. 

Gilpin,  William.  Observations  relative 
chiefly  to  Picturesque  Beauty  made  in 
the  year  1776.  London,  1789. 

Grant,  Sir  Alexander.  The  Story  of  the 
University  of  Edinburgh.  2  vols. 
London,  1884. 

Gray,  Thomas.  Works,  ed.  by  the 
Rev.  J.  Mitford.  5  vols.  London, 
1858. 

Grierson,  James.  Delineations  of  St. 
Andrews.  Edinburgh,  1807. 

Henderson,  Andrew.  The  Edinburgh 
History  of  the  late  Rebellion  of  1745- 
6.  4th  ed.  London,  1752.  Con- 
siderations on  the  Scots  Militia,  1761. 

Hervey,  John,  Lord.  Memoirs.  2 
vols.  London, 

Home,  John.  Works.  3  vols.  Edin- 
burgh, 1822. 

Howard,  John.  State  of  the  Prisons  in 
England  and  Wales.  Warrington, 
1777. 

Hughes,  Michael.  A  Plain  Narrative 
of  the  late  Rebellion  by  Michael  Hughes, 
A  Volnnticr  from  the  City  of  London. 
London,  1747. 

Hume,  David.  History  of  England, 
8  vols.  London,  1773.  Letters  to 
William  Strahan,  ed.  by  G.  B.  Hill. 
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ton. 2  vols.  Edinburgh,  1846. 

Irving,  Joseph.  The  Book  of  Dumbar- 
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Johnson,  Samuel.  Letters.     Published 

by  H.  L.  Pio//i.  2  vols.     London, 

1788.       Works.  ii    vols.      Oxford, 
1825. 


TITLES   OF   WORKS   QUOTED. 


Journey  through  /'art  <>f  England  tint! 
Scot/and  with  the  Army.  liy  a 
Volunteer.  1747. 

Kames,  Lord.  Life  and  Writings.  2 
vols.  Edinburgh,  1807.  Sketches  of 
the  History  of  Man.  3  vols.  Edin- 
burgh, 1807. 

Knox,  John.  A  Tour  through  the  High- 
lands,  &>c.,  in  1786.  London,  1787. 

Letters  from  a  Gentleman  in  the  North 
of  Scotland.  2  vols.  London,  1754. 

Letters  on  Iceland,  &c.,  by  Uno  von 
Troill,  D.I).  London,  3rd  ed.,  1783. 

London  and  its  Environs.  6  vols. 
London,  1761. 

Macaulay,  Thomas  Babington  (Lord 
Macau  lay).  Miscellaneous  Writings 
and  Speeches.  London,  1871.  Life, 
by  Sir  George  Trevelyan.  2  vols. 
London,  1877. 

Mackintosh,  Sir  James.  Memoirs  of  his 
Life.  2  vols.  London,  1836. 

Macky,  J.  A  Journey  through  Scotland. 
London,  1723. 

Malmesbury,  First  Earl  of.  Letters.  4 
vols.  London,  1844. 

Marchnwnt  Papers.     London,  1831. 

Martin,  M.  A  Description  of  tlic 
Western  Islands.  2nd  ed.  1716. 

M'Nicol,  Rev.  Donald.  Remarks  on 
Dr.  Johnson's  Journey  to  the  Hebrides. 
Glasgow,  1817. 

Modern  Scottish  Minstrel.  Edited  by 
C.  Rogers.  1870. 

Monboddo,  Lord,  (James  Burnet). 
Ancient  Metaphysics.  6  vols.  Edin- 
burgh, 1779-99.  Origin  and  Progress 
of  Languages.  6  vols.  Edinburgh, 
1773-92. 

Pennant,  Thomas.  Tour  in  Scotland, 
London,  1772.  Voyage  to  the  He- 
brides. London,  1774-76. 

Paterson,  Daniel.  British  Itinerary. 
2  vols.  London,  1800. 

Present   State   of  Scotland.      London, 

I738- 


Quarterly  Review,  No.  71.  Article  on 
John  Home,  by  Sir  Walter  Scott. 

Ray,  James.  A  Compleat  History  of 
the  Rebellion.  Bristol,  1752. 

Rogers,  Samuel,  Early  Life  of,  by  P. 
W.  Cbiyden.  London,  1887. 

Ruskin,  John.  Lectures  on  Architecture 
and  Painting.  London,  1854. 

Sacheverell,  William.  An  Account  of 
the  Isle  of  Man,  London,  1702. 

Saint-Fond,  Faujas  B.  Voyage  en  Angle- 
terre,  en  Ecosse,  et  aux  lies  Hebrides. 
2  vols.  Paris,  1797. 

Scot/and  and  Scotsmen  in  the  Eighteenth 
Century,  from  the  MSS.  of  John 
Ramsay  of  Ochtertyre.  By  A.  Allar- 
dyce.  2  vols.  Edinburgh  and  Lon- 
don, 1888. 

Scots  Magazine.     Edinburgh. 

Scott,  Sir  Walter.  Novels.  41  vols. 
Edinburgh,  1860.  Life,  by  J.  G. 
Lockhart.  10  vols.  Edinburgh, 
1839. 

Scottish  Minstrel.  Edited  by  the  Rev. 
C.  Rogers.  Edinburgh,  1870. 

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1888. 

Selwyn,  George,  and  his  Contemporaries. 

4  vols.     London,  1882. 

Smith,  Adam.       Wealth  of  Nations.     3 

vols.     London,  181 1. 
Smollett,  Tobias.     History  of  England. 

5  vols.      London,  1800.     Humphry 
Clinker.    3  vols.    4th  ed.     London, 
1792. 

Speeches,  &c.,  in  the  Douglas  Cause, 
by  a  Barrister-at-Law.  London, 
1767. 

St.  Andrnvs.  As  it  was  and  as  it  is. 
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Stockdale,  Rev.  Percival.  Memoirs. 
London,  1809. 

Storer,  J.  and  H.  S.  Vinos  in  Edin- 
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Su  n  <ey  of  the  Province  of  Moray.  Aber- 
deen, 1798. 

Swift,  Jonathan.  Works.  24  vols. 
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XIV 


TITLES    OF   WORKS  QUOTED. 


Thicknesse,  I'hilip.  Observations.  i»i 
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London,  1766. 

Topham,  Kdwanl.  Letters  from  Edin- 
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Walpole.  Horace.  Memoirs  of  tlie 
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1846  ;  Journal  of  the  Reign  of  King 


George  III.  2  vols.  London,  1859. 
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Iff.  4  vols.  London,  1845.  Let- 
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Wesley,  John.  Journals.  4  vols. 
London,  1830. 

Wolfe,  Major-General  James.  Life, 
by  Robert  Wright.  London,  1864. 

Wordsworth,  William.  Works.  6  vols. 
London,  1857. 


LIST    OF    FULL    PAGE     ILLUSTRATIONS 
AND    MAP. 


[ORTRA1T  OK  DR.  JOHNSON,  AFTER  REYNOLDS 
STAFFA       ..... 
LOCH  NESS 

INCH  KEITH      .... 
MONTROSE 

FlNDLATER  ....  .  . 

THE  FIDDLER'S  WALK,  CAWDOR      ...  .        . 

FOYERS     ......... 

THE  MORISTON  RIVER 

MAM  RATTACHAN     ......... 

BERNERA  BARRACKS,  GLENELG         ...... 

CORRICHATACHIN,  NEAR  BROADFORD,  SKYE      .... 

RAASAY  CASTLE       

DUNVEGAN  CASTLE  ......... 

ISLAND  ISA 

THE  CUCHULLIN  HILLS,  FROM  THE  CAVE  ON  WIA  ISLAND, 
SKYE 

MCLEOD'S  MAIDENS,  SKYE       ....... 

SLIGACHAN,  THE  CUCHULLIN  HILLS,  SKYE      .... 

COLL  ISLAND  .......... 

SANDILAND      .......... 

LOCHHUY          .......... 

BEN  CRUACHAN,  FROM  THE  HILL  AISOVE  OBAN 

TREES  AT  BALLENCRIEFF,  PLANTED  AT  DR.  JOHNSON'S  SUG- 
GESTION. ......... 

FACSIMILE  LETTER 

ROUTE  MAP  OF  SCOTLAND 


frontispiece 

facing  page  24 

„  28 

,.  84 

»          i.  I04 

.1  '3° 

,,  142 

,,  15° 

„  152 

»  l64 

„         ,.  166 

»  '68 

,.  172 

,,  184 

»  200 

»  2°4 

,,              ,,  206 

,»  2I° 

»  216 

l>       .,  224 

,,  232 

,,  244 

»  300 


LIST    OF    TEXT    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


JOHNSON'S  BEDROOM,   DUNVEGAN 

MAM   RATTACHAN      . 

SOUND  OF  UI.VA 

GLENCROE 

AKMIDALE 

LOCH  NESS,  NEAR  FOYERS 
LOCH  LOMOND 
THE  TOLBOOTH 
HUME'S  HOUSE. 
WHITE  HORSE  CLOSE 
JAMES'S  COURT 
THE  OLD  LIBRARY  . 
ST.  LEONARD'S  COLLEGE 
ST.  ANDREWS  . 
WEST  DOOR,  ST.  ANDREWS 
GOLF  AT  ST.  ANDREWS    .... 
ST.  MARY'S  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 
LEUCHARS         .... 
VIEW  ON  THE  TAY  . 

AliERliROTHICK  .  .  .  . 

ON  THE  WAY  TO  MONTROSE 

GARDENSTON  ARMS  ...... 

MONBODDO       .... 

KING'S  COLLEGE,  ABERDEEN    . 

MARISCHAL  COLLEGE 

ELLON     ....... 

SLAINS  CASTLE         ..... 

THE  BULLERS  OF  BUCHAN       .... 

ELGIN       ...  ..... 

ELGIN  CATHEDRAL  ...  ... 

FORES      ....  ... 

CAWDOR  ..... 

PENANCE-RING,  CAWDOR  CHURCH  . 

DRAWBRIDGE,  CAWDOR  CASTLE 

CAWDOR  CASTLE       .... 


3 

5 

'3 

23 

27 

31 

55 
57 
70 

73 
84 

89 

93 

96 

98 

101 

103 

104 

106 

108 

109 

1 14 

121 
I  22 
124 
126 
128 
131 
133 
'34 
I36 

'37 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS.  xvii 

PAGE 

VAULT,  CAWDOR  CASTLE I4o 

TAPESTRY  CHAMBER,  CAWDOR  CASTLE i4I 

DUNGARDIE,   A  VITRIFIED   FORT   NEAR    FOYERS              ....  148 

LOCH  NESS I49 

MAP  OF  FOYERS      ...........  150 

INVERMORISTON        .         .         .        .         .        .         .        .        .        .        .  ic2 

THE  RUINS  OF  THE  HOUSE  AT  ANOCH  .         .        .         .        .        .        .  i$$ 

THATCHED  HOUSE !j4 

CLUNIE    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  ^7 

EILAN  DONAN          ...........  158 

GLEN  SHIEL  BATTLE-FIELD !j9 

FAOCHAG r60 

SKYE,  FROM  GLENELG      .........  166 

THE  SOUND  OF  SLATE ^ 

CORRICHATACHIN      ...........  170 

RAASAY    .............  175 

DUN  CAN         ............  178 

PORTREE  HARBOUR 180 

KlNGSBURGH l8l 

THE  FERRY  TO  KINGSBURGH 184 

RORIE  MORE'S  NURSE 186 

WATERGATE,  DUNVEGAN 192 

DINING  ROOM,  DUNVEGAN      .........  193 

PORTRAIT  OF  SARAH,  LADY  MACLEOD,  BY  RAEBURN        .        .        .        .  194 

RORIE  MORF.'S  HORN      ..........  195 

„            „      ARMOUR 196 

MACLEOD'S  TABLES          ..........  197 

TERRACE,  DUNVEGAN 199 

HERONRY         ............  200 

SACRAMENT  SUNDAY         ..........  201 

A  CROFTER'S  HUT  IN  SKYE 203 

TALISKER  HEAD  AND  ORONSAY       .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .  204 

LANDING  PLACE,  TALISKER 207 

VIEW  OF  TALISKER 208 

ON  THE  ROAD  TO  SCONSER    .....                ...  212 

SAILING  PAST  THE  ISLE  OF  RUM     ....                 .        .  213 

ARDNAMURCHAN  POINT    .......  .214 

COL 215 

COL:  THE  LAIRD'S  HOUSE 216 

COLVAY    .        .         .         .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .  217 

LOCH  NA  KEAL 219 

INCHKENNETH  CHAPEL 223 

MACKINNON'S  CAVE .  225 

MULL 227 

RUINS  IN  IONA 231 

CARSAIG  ARCHES  :  MULL         .....                 .        .  232 

KERRERA  ISLAND     .......  243 

DUNOLI.Y  CASTLE,  OBAN 244 

INVERARY  CASTLE  .          .......  246 

f 


xviii  LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

ELIZABETH  GUNNING 

JOHNSON'S  HOST 

THE  AVENUE  OF  BEECHES 

THE  HALL,  INVERARY  CASTLE 

THE  OLD  DINING  ROOM 

TAPESTRY  BEDROOM 

"REST,  AND  BE  THANKFUL"  . 

MILESTONES  ON  THE  TARBET  ROAD 

ROSEDEW 

INCH  GALBRAITH     . 

YEW  TREE  ISLAND 

260 
CAMERON          . 

SMOLLETT'S  PILLAR  .... 

2O2 

DUNBARTON     . 

DUNDONALD  CASTLE 

OLD  AUCHANS. 

DINING  ROOM  AT  OLD  AUCHANS     . 

AUCHINLECK     . 

NEW  HAILES    . 

LIBRARY,  NEW  HAILES     . 

BALLENCRIEFF 

HAWTHORNDEN        ....  3°5 


INTRODUCTION. 


TRAVELLER  who  passed  through  the  Hebrides  in  the 
year  1786  recorded  that  in  many  houses  he  was  given 
the  room  to  sleep  in  which  had  been  occupied  by  Dr. 
Johnson.1  Twenty-eight  years  later,  when  Sir  Walter 

Scott  with  some  of  his  friends 

landed  in  Skye,  it  was  found 

on     inquiry     that     the     first 

thought  which  had  come  into 

each  man's  mind  was  of  John- 
son's Latin  Ode  to  Mrs. 

Thrale.2  The  Highlanders  at 

Dunvegan,  Scott  goes  on  to 

say,  saw  that  about  Johnson 

there  was  something  worthy 

of  respect,  "  they  could   not 

tell  what,  and  long  spoke  of 

him  as  the  Sassenach  i/io/ir, 

or   big    Englishman." :!     He 

still  lives  among  them,  mainly, 

no    doubt,  by  his   own   and 

Boswell's  books,   but   partly 

also  by  tradition.     Very  few 

Of  the    houses   remain   where  UK.  JOHNSON'S  IJEDRUOM,  DUNVEGAN. 

he  visited.      Nevertheless,  in 

two  of  these  in  the  Hebrides,  and  in  one  in  the  Lowlands,  I  was 

shown  his  bedroom.      Proud,  indeed,  would  the  old  man  have  been 

1  John   Knox's    Tour  through  Ike  Highlands,  •'  Croker's    Correspondence,    ii.    33  ;    Croker's 
PP-  77,  132.                                                                            Boswdl,  p.  409. 

2  Croker's  Boswell,  p.  314. 

li 


INTRODUCTION. 


could  he  have  foreseen  that  an  Englishman  who  followed  on  his 
steps  one  hundred  and  sixteen  years  later  would  be  shown  at  New 
Hailes,  at  Rasay,  and  at  Dunvegan,  "Dr.  Johnson's  Chamber." 
At  Rasay  is  preserved  his  walking-stick—  not  the  famous  "  piece 
of  timber  "  which  was  destined  for  some  museum,  but  was  stolen  or 
lost  in  Mull  but  one  which  he  had  occasionally  used.     In  his  bed- 
room an  engraving  of  him  hangs  on  the  wall.     The  china  tea-set 
out  of  which  he  had  drunk  is  preserved  by  a  descendant  of  the  laird 
who  was  his  host.     At  Dunvegan  his  portrait  is  set  up  in  a  post  of 
honour  in  the  noble  drawing-room  of  the  famous  old  castle,  and  his 
autocrraph  letter  to  Macleod  of  Macleod  rests  among  the  ancient 
memorials  of  that  still  more  ancient  family.     That  it  is  endorsed 
"  Dr.  Johnston's  Letter"  may  be  twisted  into  a  compliment.     So 
popular  was  he  that  his  very  name  was  "  Scottified." 

In  many  places  I  found  traditions  of  him  still  remaining-  some, 
no  doubt,  true  ;  others  false.      But  whether  false  or  true,  by  their 
vitality  they  show  the  deep  mark  which  the  man  made  as  he  passed 
alomr     In  Glenmorison  there  are  countryfolk  who  profess  to  know 
by  the  report  of  their  forefathers  the  "  clear  rivulet  "  in  "  the  narrow 
valley,  not  very  flowery  but  sufficiently  verdant,"  where  Johnson 
reposed  on  "  a  bank  such  as  a  writer  of  romance  might  have  de- 
lighted to  feign,  and  first  conceived  the  thought  of  the  narration  " 
of  his  tour.1     In  a  farmhouse  on  Loch  Duich,  just  below  the  moun- 
tain which  exhausted  his  patience  and  good-humour,  and  nearly  ex- 
hausted his  strength,  I  was  told  of  the  speech  which  he  made  as  he 
reached  the  top  of  the  pass.     "  He  turned  as  he  was  beginning  the 
descent  and  said  to  the  mountain,  '  Good-bye,  Ma'am  Rattachan,  I 
hope  never  to  see  your  face  again.'  "       From  Rasay  a  friendly  corre- 
spondent wrote  to  tell  me  how  the  great  man  had  climbed  up  Dun 
Can,  the  highest  mountain  in  the  island,  and  had  danced  on  the  top. 
I  have  pointed  out  that  it  was  Boswell  and  not  Johnson  who  per- 
formed this  feat,  but  the  tradition,  doubtless,  will  linger  on.     At 
Dunvegan  Miss  Macleod  of  Macleod,  who  remembers  her  grand- 
mother? Johnson's  hostess,  and  her  aunts,  "the  four  daughters,  who 
knew  all  the  arts  of  southern  elegance,  and  all  the  modes  of  English 
economy,"  3  has  preserved  some  traditions  more  worthy  of  trust. 


'  Johnson's  Work,,  ix.  36.  <*«>»•       See  Blackie'S  Etynohgical  Geography 

2  Johnson  calls   this  mountain    "Ratiken;"  (ed.  1875),  p.  1  12. 

Boswell,  "the  Kattakin."   It  is  known  as  Mam-  a  Johnson's  Works,  ix.  63. 
Rattachan.     Main  signifies  a  mountain  pass  or 


TRADITIONS    OF   JOHNSON.  3 

"  One  day,"  she  said,  "  he  had  scolded  the  maid  for  not  getting 
good  peats,  and  had  gone  out  in  the  rain  to  the  stack  to  fetch  in 
some  himself.1     He  caught  a  bad  cold.     Lady  Macleod  went  up 
to    his    room    to    see 
how  he  was,  and  found 
him  in  bed,  with  his 
wig  turned  inside  out, 
and    the    wrong   end 
foremost,  serving  the 
purpose  of  '  a  cap  by 
night,'  like  the  stock- 
ing    of     Goldsmith's 
Author.     On  her  re- 
turn to  the  drawing- 
room,     she    said,    '  I 
have  often  seen  very 
plain  people,  but  any- 
thing as  ugly  as  Dr. 
Johnson,  with  his  wig 
thus  stuck  on,  I  never 
have  seen.'2   She  was 
(her      granddaughter 
added)  greatly  pleased 
with  his  talk,  for  she 
had  seen    enough   of 
the  world  to  enjoy  it ; 
but  her  daughters,  who 
were  still  quite  girls, 
disliked     him    much, 
and  called  him  a  bear." 
At     the     inn     at 
Broadford,   sitting   in 
the    entrance-hall,     I 

-    ..     .  MAM    RATTACHAN. 

tell  into  talk  with  an 

elderly  man,  a  retired  exciseman,   who  lived  close  by.      He,  too, 

had  his  traditions  of  the  Sassenach  mohr.     His  father  had  known 

"Thepeatsat  Dunvegan,  which  were  damp,  supplyof  peats  from  tliestack,  old  Mr.  M'Sweyn 

Dr.  Johnson  called  'a  sullen  fuel.'  Here  a  Scot-  said,  'that  was  main  honest: "— Boswell's  John- 

tish  phrase  was  singularly  applied  to  him.     One  son,  v.  303. 

of  the  company  having  remarked  that  he  had  "  See  Boswell's  fohnson,  v.  214,  for  Boswell's 

gone  out  on  a  stormy  evening,  and  brought  in  a  account. 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

an  old  kuly,  blind  of  one  eye,  who  was  fond  of  telling  how  in  her 
childhood,  at  the  time  of  Johnson's  visit,  she  had  been  watching  the 
dancing  in  that  famous  farmhouse-  of  Corrichatachin,  where  Boswel 
got  so  drunk  one  night  over  the  punch,  and  so  penitent  the  ncx 
morning  over  a  severe  headache  and  the  Epistle  for  the  ' 
Sunday  after  Trinity.1    A  large  brass  button  on  the  coat-tail  of  one 
of  the  dancers  had  struck  her  in  her  eye  as  he  whirled  round  and 
had  so  injured   it  that  she  lost  the  sight.      My  informant  had  a 
story  also  to  tell  of  the  learned   minister,  the  Rev.   Donald  Mac- 
queen,  who  accompanied  Johnson  in  part  of  his  tour.     "  A  crofter 
seein^  the  two  men  pass,  asked  the  minister  who  was  his  com- 
panion.     Macqueen   replied,   'The   man  who   made    the    English 
language.'     '  Then  he  had  very  little  to  do,'  rejoined  the  crofter  ; 
meaning,  according  to  the  Gaelic  idiom,  that  he  might  have  been 
much  better  employed."     My  friendly  exciseman  had  known  also 
an  old  lady  who  remembered  Johnson  coming  to  her  father's  house 
in  Mull.     According  to  a  custom  once  very  common  in  the  High- 
lands, though  even  in  those  days  passing  fast  away,  she  had  been 
sent  for  three  or  four  years  to  a  shepherd's  hut  to  be  fostered, 
was  shortly  after  her  return  home  that  Johnson's  visit  was  paid. 
He  did  not  hide  his  displeasure  at  the  roughness  which  still  clung 
to  her.     She  had  not  forgotten,  moreover,  how  he  found  fault  with 
the  large  candles,  rudely 'made  of  pieces  of  old  cloth  twisted  round 
and  dipped  in  tallow.-     My  acquaintance  ended  his  talk  by  saying  : 
"  If  Dr.  Johnson   had  returned  to  Scotland   after  publishing  his 
book,  he  would  have  got  a  crack  on  his  skull." 

At  Craignure,  in  the  Isle  of  Mull,  the  landlord  of  the  little  inn 
had  his  story  to  tell  of  the  untimely  death  of  young  Maclean  of 
Col,  that  "  amiable  man,"  who,  while  the  pages  of  Johnson's  Journey 
to  the  Western  Islands  "  were  preparing  to  attest  his  virtues,  perished 
in  the  passage  between  Ulva  and  Inch-Kenneth."  '  My  host's  great- 
grandmother,  a  Macquarrie  of  Ulva,  on  the  night  when  the  boat 
was  upset,  had  been  watching  the  cattle  near  the  fatal  shore.  An 
old  woman  who  was  to  have  been  her  companion  had  failed  her,  so 
that  she  was  alone.  She  saw  nothing,  and  heard  no  cries.  "  A 

•  Novell's  Johnson,  v.  258.  with  horses;  but  it  is  not  mentioned  that  they 

*  My  informant  placed  the  scene  of  this  story  went  to  his  house-they  certainly  did  not  pass  a 
at  the  house  of  a  Captain  or  Colonel  Campbell  night    there.     See    Boswell's  Johnson,    v.    332, 
in  Mull.     There  was  a  Mr.  Campbell,  one  of  the  340. 

Duke  of  Argyle's  tacksmen,  or  chief  tenants,  in  3  Johnson's  Works,  ix.  142. 

that  island,  who  furnished  Boswell  and  Johnson 


TRADITIONS   OF  JOHNSON.  5 

half-witted  person,"  my  informant  added,  in  a  serious  voice,  "had 
warned  one  of  the  party  not  to  go  ;  but  his  warning  was  not  heeded, 
and  the  man  lost  his  life." 

At  Lochbuie  two  traditions,  I  found,  had  been  preserved  in  the 
family  of  the  laird,  the  great-grandson  of  that  Maclean  of  Lochbuie 
whom  Boswell  had  heard  described  as  "a  great  roaring  bragga- 
docio," but  found  only  "a  bluff,  comely,  noisy  old  gentleman.  He 
bawled  out  to  Johnson  (as  Boswell  tells  us),  '  Are  you  of  the  John- 


SOUND   OF   ULVA. 


stons  of  Glencroe  or  of  Ardnamurchan  ? '  Dr.  Johnson'gave  him  a 
significant  look,  but  made  no  answer."  '  The  report  has  come  down 
in  the  family  that  Johnson  replied  that  he  was  neither  one  nor  the 
other.  Whereupon  Lochbuie  cried  out,  "  Damn  it,  Sir,  then  you 
must  be  a  bastard."  There  can,  I  fear,  be  no  doubt  that  this  re- 
joinder belongs  to  those  exccllcus  impromptus  a  loisir  in  which 
Rousseau  excelled 2 — that  esprit  de  Cescalier,  as  the  French  describe 
it.  If  the  laird,  like  Addison,  could  draw  for  a  thousand  pounds, 
he  had,  I  suspect,  but  nine  pence  in  ready  money.1  For  had  this 
repartee  been  made  at  the  time,  and  not  been  merely  an  after-in- 
vention, Boswell  most  certainly  would  not  have  let  it  pass  unre- 

1  Boswell's  Johnson,  v.  341.  a  See  Les  Confessions,  bk.  iii 

3  lioswell's  Johnson,  ii.  256. 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

corded.  The  second  tradition  is  scarcely  more  trustworthy.  John- 
son at  the  tea-table,  I  was  told,  helped  himself  to  sugar  with  his 
lingers,  whereupon  Lady  Lochbuie  at  once  had  the  basin  emptied, 
and  fresh  sugar  brought  in.  He  said  nothing  at  the  time,  but 
when  he  had  finished  his  tea  he  flung  down  the  cup,  exclaiming 
that  if  he  had  polluted  one  he  had  also  polluted  the  other.  A  lady 
of  the  family  of  Lochbuie,  whose  memory  goes  back  ninety  years, 
in  recounting  this  story  when  I  was  in  Scotland,  added,  "  But  I  do 
not  know  whether  it  was  true."  That  it  was  not  true  I  have 
little  doubt.  In  the  first  place,  we  have  again  Boswell's  silence  ; 
in  the  second  place,  to  the  minor  decencies  of  life  Johnson  was  by 
no  means  inattentive.  At  Paris  he  was  on  the  point  of  refusing  a 
cup  of  coffee  because  the  footman  had  put  in  the  sugar  with  his 
fingers  ;  and  at  Edinburgh,  in  a  passion,  he  threw  a  glass  of 
lemonade  out  of  the  window  because  it  had  been  sweetened  in  the 
same  manner  by  the  waiter.  In  one  of  his  letters  to  Mrs.  Thrale 
he  expressed  his  displeasure  in  Skye  at  the  very  practice  with 
which  he  is  charged  a  few  weeks  later  in  Mull.  Describing  his 
visit  to  the  house  of  Sir  Alexander  Macdonald,  he  wrote  :  "  The 
lady  had  not  the  common  decencies  of  her  tea-table  :  we  picked  up 
our  sugar  with  our  fingers." 

It  is  strange  that  while  in  Mull,  that  "  most  dolorous  country,' 
that  "  gloom  of  desolation,"  as  Johnson  described  it,  these  stories  of 
him  are  preserved,  the  boatman  who  took  me  across  the  narrow 
passage  between  it  and  Inch- Kenneth  had  no  traditionary  know- 
ledge of  his  host,  Sir  Allan  Maclean,  and  of  his  retirement  in  that 
little  island.  To  the  forefathers  of  the  men  of  Mull  the  head  of 
the  Macleans  would  have  been  an  object  of  reverence  and  even  of 
fear,  and  Johnson  only  a  passing  wonder.  "  I  would  cut  my  bones 
for  him,"  said  one  of  his  clan,  speaking  of  Sir  Allan  in  Boswell's 
hearing.2  But  of  the  Highland  chief  who  lived  among  them  no 
remembrance  remains,  while  the  Sassenach  mo/ir,  who  spent  but  a 
few  days  in  the  island-home  of  the  Macleans,  is  still  almost  "  a 
household  word." 

I  was  indeed  surprised  to  find  through  the  Highlands  and  the 
Hebrides  how  much  he  still  remained  in  men's  thoughts.  On  Loch 
Lomond,  the  boatman  who  rowed  me  to  the  islands  on  which  he  had 
landed,  a  man  of  reading  and  intelligence,  said  that  though  he  had 

1  fiozzi  Letters,  i.  138.  "  Boswell's  fo/inson,  v.  337. 


SCOTTISH   SENSITIVENESS.  7 

himself  read  Johnson's  fourttey,  yet  "Scotchmen  still  feel  too  sore 
to  like  reading  him."  Whatever  soreness  still  lingers  is,  I  have 
little  doubt,  much  more  due  to  his  sarcasms  recorded  by  Boswell 
than  to  any  passages  in  his  own  narrative.  But  it  is  surprising  that 
Scotchmen  cannot  more  generally  join  in  a  hearty  laugh  at  his 
humorous  sallies,  though  they  are  at  their  own  expense.  That 
the  Scotch  of  a  hundred  years  and  more  ago  were  over-sensitive  is 
not  astonishing.  At  that  time  in  most  respects  they  were  still  far 
behind  England.  It  was  England  that  they  were  striving  to  follow  in 
their  arts,  their  commerce,  and  their  agriculture.  It  was  the  English 
accent  that  they  were  striving  to  catch,  and  the  English  style  in 
which  they  laboured  to  write.  It  was  to  the  judgment  of  English- 
men that  their  authors,  no  small  or  inglorious  band,  anxiously 
appealed.  That  they  should  be  sensitive  to  criticism  beyond  even 
the  Americans  of  our  day  was  not  unnatural.  For  in  the  poverty 
of  their  soil,  and  the  rudiments  of  their  manufactures  and  trade, 
they  found  none  of  that  boastful  comfort  which  supports  the  citizen 
of  the  United  States,  even  when  he  is  most  solicitous  of  English 
approbation.  But  at  the  present  day,  when  they  are  in  most 
respects  abreast  of  Englishmen,  and  in  some  even  ahead,  they 
should  disprove  the  charge  that  is  brought  against  them  of  wanting 
humour  by  showing  that  they  can  enjoy  a  hearty  laugh,  even 
though  it  goes  against  them.  Johnson's  ill-humour  did  not  go 
deep,  and,  no  doubt,  was  often  laughed  away.  Of  that  rancour 
which  disgraced  Hume  his  nature  was  wholly  incapable.  He 
wished  no  ill  to  Scotland  as  Hume  wished  ill  to  England.1  "  He 
returned  from  it,"  writes  Boswell,  "  in  great  good-humour,  with  his 
prejudices  much  lessened,  and  with  very  grateful  feelings  of  the 
hospitality  with  which  he  was  treated."  : 

Not  all  Scotch  critics  were  hostile  towards  him.  The  Scots 
Magazine,  which  last  century  was  to  Edinburgh  what  the  Gentle- 
mans  Magazine  was  to  London,  always  spoke  of  him  with  great 
respect.  Writing  of  him  early  in  the  year  in  which  he  visited 
Scotland,  it  says : 

"  Dr.  Johnson  has  long  possessed  a  splendid  reputation  in  the  republic  of  letters, 
and  it  was  honestly  acquired.  He  is  said  to  affect  a  singularity  in  his  manners  and 
to  contemn  the  social  rules  which  are  established  in  the  intercourse  of  civil  life.  If 
this  extravagance  is  affected,  it  is  a  fault ;  if  it  has  been  acquired  by  the  habitudes 

'  See  Letters  of  David  Hume  to  William  Strahan,  pp.  56,  114,  132. 
2  Boswell's  fohnson,  v.  20. 


8 


INTRODUCTION. 


of  his  temper  :md  his  indolence,  it  scarcely  merits  censure.     We  allow  to  the  man 
who  can  soar  so  high  above  the  multitude  to  descend  sometimes  beneath  them."1 

In  the  two  reviews  of  his  fottnuy  in  the  same  magazine,  there 
is  not  one  word  of  censure ;  neither  when  Boswell,  eleven  years 
later,  brought  out  his  account  of  the  tour,  had  they  any  fault  to  find. 
In  the  character  which  they  drew  of  Johnson  on  his  death  they 
leave  unnoticed  his  attacks  on  Scotland.  They  are  even  generous 
in  their  praise.  Speaking  of  his  pension  they  say  :  "  It  would 
have  been  a  national  disgrace  if  such  talents,  distinguished  by  such 
writings,  had  met  with  no  other  recompense  than  the  empty  con- 
sciousness of  fame."  :  There  were  also  men  of  eminence  in  Scot- 
land who  at  once  acknowledged  the  merits  of  the  book.  "  I  love 
the  benevolence  of  the  author,"  said  Lord  Hailes.3  The  "virtuous 
and  candid  Dempster,"  the  ''patriotic  Knox,"  Tytler,  the  historian, 
"  a  Scot,  if  ever  a  Scot  there  were,"  had  each  his  word  of  high 
praise.'  Sir  Walter  Scott,  writing  many  years  later,  said  :  "  I  am 
far  from  being  of  the  number  of  those  angry  Scotsmen  who  imputed 
to  Johnson's  national  prejudices  all  or  a  great  part  of  the  report  he 
has  given  of  our  country.  I  remember  the  Highlands  ten  or  twelve 
years  later,  and  no  one  can  conceive  of  how  much  that  could  have 
been  easily  remedied  travellers  had  to  complain."'5 

These  men,  nevertheless,  formed  a  small  minority.  The  out- 
cry that  was  raised  against  Johnson  was  at  once  loud  and  bitter. 
To  attacks  for  many  a  long  year  he  had  been  used,  but  yet  this 
time  he  was  startled.  "  He  expressed  his  wonder  at  the  extreme 
jealousy  of  the  Scotch,  and  their  resentment  at  having  their  country 
described  as  it  really  was.""  Boswell  mentions  "the  brutal 
reflections  thrown  out  against  him,"  and  "  the  rancour  with  which 
he  was  assailed  by  numbers  of  shallow  irritable  North  Britons."7 
How  quickly  the  storm  gathered  and  burst  is  shown  in  a  letter 
written  by  an  Englishman  from  Edinburgh  a  few  days  after  the 
book  was  published  : 

"Edinburgh,  Jan.  24,  1775.  Dr.  Johnson's  Tour  has  just  made  its  appearance 
here,  and  has  put  the  country  into  a  flame.  Everybody  finds  some  reason  to  be 
affronted.  A  thousand  people  who  know  not  a  single  creature  in  the  Western  Isles 
interest  themselves  in  their  cause,  and  are  offended  at  the  accounts  that  are  given 
of  them.  Newspapers,  magazines,  pamphlets,  all  teem  with  abuse  of  the  Doctor. 


1  Scots  Magazine,  1773,  p.  133. 

2  Ib.  1784,  p.  685. 

3  Boswell's  fohnson,  v.  406. 

4  Ib.  ii.  305-6. 


'  Croker's  Correspondence,  ii.  34. 
0  BosweH'sy«//«w«,  ii.  306. 
7  //'.  ii.  303-5. 


ATTACKS   ON   JOHNSON.  9 

He  was  received  with  the  most  flattering  marks  of  civility  by  everyone.  He  was 
looked  upon  as  a  kind  of  miracle,  and  almost  carried  about  for  a  show.  Those 
who  were  in  his  company  were  silent  the  moment  he  spoke,  lest  they  should 
interrupt  him,  and  lose  any  of  the  good  things  he  was  going  to  say.  He  repaid  all 
their  attention  to  him  with  ill-breeding,  and  when  in  the  company  of  the  ablest 
men  in  this  country,  who  are  certainly  his  superiors  in  point  of  abilities,  his  whole 
design  was  to  show  them  how  contemptibly  he  thought  of  them.  Had  the  Scotch 
been  more  acquainted  with  Dr.  Johnson's  private  character  they  would  have 
expected  nothing  better.  A  man  of  illiberal  manners  and  surly  disposition,  who  all 
his  life  long  had  been  at  enmity  with  the  Scotch,  takes  a  sudden  resolution  of 
travelling  amongst  them;  not,  according  to  his  own  account,  'to  find  a  people  of 
liberal  and  refined  education,  but  to  see  wild  men  and  wild  manners."" 

The  "  patriotic  Knox,"  as  Boswell  calls  him,  the  author  of  A 
Tour  through  the  Highlands  and  Hebnde  Isles  in  \  786,  a  man 
freer  from  prejudices  than  the  common  run,  and  one  who  readily 
acknowledged  the  merits  of  Johnson's  book,  bears  equal  witness 
to  the  wrath  of  his  countrymen. 

"  Dr.  Johnson  (he  writes)  set  out  under  incurable  impressions  of  a  national  pre- 
judice, a  religious  prejudice,  and  a  literary  jealousy.  From  a  writer  of  such  abilities 
and  such  prejudices  the  natives  of  Scotland  had  reason  to  expect  a  shower  of  arrows 
without  mercy,  and  it  was  possibly  from  this  prepossession  that  they  were  ready  to 
fall  upon  him  as  one  man  the  moment  that  his  book  appeared.  Their  minds  were 
charged  with  sentiments  of  indignity,  resentment  and  revenge,  which  they  did  not 
fail  to  discharge  upon  his  head  in  whole  platoons  from  every  quarter."  * 

To  us,  who  know  Johnson  better  than  we  know  any  other 
author  who  has  ever  lived,  the  charge  of  literary  jealousy  seems 
ridiculous.  But  Knox  lived  before  Boswell's  Life  was  published. 
Scotland,  in  which  learning  and  even  literature  had  slumbered  for 
nearly  a  century,  had  started  up  from  her  long  sleep,  and  was  bent 
on  turning  the  Auld  Reekie  into  the  Modern  Athens.  All  her 
geese  were  swans,  though  of  swans  she  had  at  this  season  a  fair 
flock.  "  Edinburgh  is  a  hotbed  of  genius,"  wrote  Smollett,  shortly 
before  Johnson's  visit,  and  as  a  proof  of  it  he  instanced  among 
"  authors  of  the  first  distinction,"  Wallace,  Blair,  Wilkie,  and  Fer- 
guson. Hume  still  earlier  had  proclaimed  that  at  last  there  was 

1  Letters  from  Edinburgh,    1774-5,  London,  so  candid  is  the  author  amidst  his  errors,  that  it 

1776,  published  without  a  name,  but  written  by  is  hard  to  say  whether  he   is   more  erroneous 

Captain  Edward  Topham,  pp.  137-140.     Arnot,  when   he   speaks   in    praise   or    censure   of  the 

in  his  History  of  Edinburgh,  p.  361,  after  ridi-  Scottish   nation."      It   is  possible  and  perhaps 

culing  Topham's  statement,  that  golf  is  played  probable   that   he   has   exaggerated   the   ill-will 

on  the  top  of  Arthur's  Seat,  continues  :   "  These  against  Johnson.     The  passage  which  he  puts  in 

letters  are  written  with  spirit  and  impartiality.  quotation  marks  is  not  in  \\vtjourney. 
But  the  facts  and  criticisms  contained  in  them  -  Knox's  Tour,  p.  Ixvii. 

are  for  the  most  part  equally  ill-founded.     Yet 


io  INTRODUCTION. 

"a  hope  of  seeing  good  tragedies  in  the  English  language,"  for 
Johnny  Home  had  written  his  Douglas.  Wilkie  of  the  Epigoniad, 
the  ercat  historian  held,  was  to  be  the  Homer,  and  Blacklock  the 

o 

Pindar,  of  Scotland.1  But  it  was  in  Ossian  Macpherson  that  the 
hopes  of  the  country  had  at  one  time  soared  highest.  By  Dr. 
Blair,  the  Edinburgh  Professor  of  Rhetoric,  he  had  been  ranked 
with  Homer  and  Virgil.2  The  national  pride,  the  honour  of  Scot- 
land, was  concerned,  and  the  meanest  motive  was  attributed  to  the 
man  who  had  ventured  to  pronounce  his  poems  an  impudent  for- 
gery. Macpherson  was  a  dangerous  enemy.  Against  "  the 
menaces  of  a  ruffian  "  a  thick  cudgel  might  avail  ;  but  the  secret 
arts  of  a  literary  forger  were  not  so  easily  baffled.  His  position 
was  one  of  great  power,  for  from  the  Court  he  received  a  pension 
at  first  of  ^600  a  year,  and  afterwards  of  ^800,  "  to  supervise  the 
newspapers.  He  inserted  what  lies  he  pleased,  and  prevented 
whatever  he  disapproved  of  being  printed. ":  It  was  from  this 
tainted  source  that  no  doubt  sprang  many  of  "  the  miserable  cavil- 
lings against  the  fourney  in  newspapers,  magazines,  and  other  fugi- 
tive pieces."  These,  as  Boswell  tells  us,  "only  furnished  Johnson 
with  sport."  Nevertheless,  though  they  did  not  trouble  his  mind, 
they  marred  the  fame  of  his  book,  and  prejudiced  not  only  the  im- 
mediate, but  even  the  traditional  judgment  of  Scotland.  Enough 
dirt  was  thrown,  and  some  of  it  did  stick  and  sticks  still.  Lies 
were  sent  wandering  through  the  land,  and  some  of  them  have  not 
even  yet  found  their  everlasting  rest.  One  disgusting  story,  not  un- 
worthy of  the  inventive  genius  of  Ossian  himself,  is  still  a  solace  to 
Scots  of  the  baser  sort.  That  it  is  a  lie  can  be  plainly  proved,  for 
it  rests  on  a  supposed  constant  suspicion  in  Johnson  of  the  food 
provided  for  him.  Now  we  know  from  his  own  writings  that  only 
twice  in  his  tour  had  he  "  found  any  reason  to  complain  of  a  Scot- 
tish table." ;  Moreover,  in  his  letters  to  Mrs.  Thrale  and  in  Bos- 
well's  Journal,  we  can  follow  his  course  with  great  accuracy  and 
minuteness.  Had  there  been  any  foundation  for  this  lie  it  must  be 
found  on  the  road  between  Inverness  and  the  seashore.  Now  we 
know  what  meals  he  had  at  each  station.  Even  in  the  miserable 
inn  at  Glenelg,  where  his  accommodation  was  at  its  worst,  if  he  had 
chosen  he  could  have  had  mutton  chops  and  freshly-killed  poultry. 

'   Burton's  Life  of  Hume,  ii.  31.  *  Boswell'syi)/;;wo;/,  i.  396. 

'  Walpole's_/<wr;i<i/(j/V/j6'  Reign  of  George  III.  (ed.  1859),  ii.  17,  483. 
4  Boswell'syy/(«tt>«,  ii.  307.  J  Johnson's  Works,  ix.  19. 


M'NICOL'S   SCURRILOUS  VOLUME.  n 

Finding  both  too  tough,  lie  supped  on  a  lemon  and  a  piece  of 
bread. 

The  attacks  of  the  angry  critics,  published  as  they  were  in  fugi- 
tive pieces,  might  have  been  forgotten  had  they  not  been  revived 
three  or  four  years  later  in  "  a  scurrilous  volume,"  as  Boswell  justly 
describes  it,  "  larger  than  Johnson's  own,  filled  with  malignant 
abuse  under  a  name  real  or  fictitious  of  some  low  man  in  an  obscure 
corner  of  Scotland,  though  supposed  to  be  the  work  of  another 
Scotchman,  who  has  found  means  to  make  himself  well  known  both 
in  Scotland  and  England."  The  "  low  man  "  was  the  Rev.  Donald 
M'Nicol,  and  the  "obscure  corner"  that  long  and  pleasant  island 
of  Lismore  which  the  steamers  skirt  every  summer  day  as  they 
pass  with  their  load  of  tourists  between  Oban  and  the  entrance  of 
the  Caledonian  Canal.  M'Nicol's  predecessor  in  the  manse  was  the 
Rev.  John  Macaulay,  whose  famous  grandson,  Lord  Macaulay,  was 
to  rebuke  those  "  foolish  and  ignorant  Scotchmen,  who  moved  to 
anger  by  a  little  unpalatable  truth  which  was  mingled  with  much 
eulogy  in  $RK.Joumtey  to  the  Western  Islands,  assailed  him  whom  they 
chose  to  consider  as  the  enemy  of  their  country  with  libels  much 
more  dishonourable  to  their  country  than  anything  that  he  had  ever 
said  or  written.  '"J  When  Johnson  was  shown  M'Nicol's  book  he  said  : 
"  This  fellow  must  be  a  blockhead.  They  don't  know  how  to  go 
about  their  abuse.  Who  will  read  a  five  shilling  book  against  me  ? 
No,  Sir,  if  they  had  wit,  they  should  have  kept  pelting  me  with 
pamphlets."  The  book,  however,  seems  to  have  been  widely  read, 
and  in  the  year  1817  was  reprinted  at  Glasgow  in  a  fine  large  type. 
A  Scotch  gentleman  recently  told  me  that  he  fears  that  to  many  of  his 
countrymen  Johnson's  tour  is  only  known  through  M'Nicol's  attack. 

It  was  Macpherson  at  whom  Boswell  aimed  a  blow  when  he 
wrote  of  the  "  other  Scotchman  whose  work  it  was  supposed  to  be." 
If  Ossian  had  no  hand  in  it  himself,  it  was  certainly  written  by 
someone  fired  with  all  his  hatred  of  the  man  who  had  branded  him 
as  a  forger.  Johnson  is  described  as  "  a  man  of  some  reputation 
for  letters,  whose  master-passion  was  hatred  of  Scotland.  When 
the  Poems  of  Ossian  were  published,  and  became  the  delight  and 
admiration  of  the  learned  over  all  Europe,  his  cynical  disposition 
instantly  took  the  alarm."  3  It  was  from  this  time  that  "  we  may 

1  Boswell \John son,  ii.  308.  3  Remarks  on  Dr.  Johnson's  Journey  to  the 

*  Macaulay's     Miscellaneous     Writings,    eu.        Hebrides,  pp.  263-7. 
1871,  p.  390. 


12 


INTRODUCTION. 


date  the  origin  of  his  intended  tour  to  Scotland  "      It  was   from 
malice  that  he  started  so  late  in  the  year-a  malice,  by  the  way, 
which  nearly  brought  him  to  a  watery  grave.     "  It  was  not  beaut, 
he  went  to  find  out  in  Scotland,  but  defects  ;  and  for  the  northern 
situation  of  the  Hebrides  the  advanced  time  of  the  year  suited  his 
purpose  best."  '     Johnson,  with  a  discretion  which  other  travellers 
in  like  circumstances  would  do  well  to  imitate,  had  passed  over 
Edinburgh  with  the  remark  that  it  is  "  a  city  too  well  known  to 
admit   description."     This  wise  reticence  is  twisted  into  a  proof 
of  malevolence.     So,  too,  is  the  brevity  with  which  he  mentions 
Dundee      "We  stopped  awhile  at  Dundee,"  he  recorded,  "whei 
I  remember  nothing  remarkable."  »     Surely  this  is  a  very  innocent 
sentence      Even  Boswell,  whose   record  was  generally  far  fuller, 
dismisses  this  place  with  three   words.     "We  saw  Dundee,  '  he 
says  a     But  M'Nicol  at  once  discovered  the  miserable  jealousy  ot 
the  Englishman.     "  He  passes  very  rapidly  through  the  town  of 
Dundee,  for  fear,  I  suppose,  of  being  obliged  to  take  notice  of  its 
increasing  trade."  '     How  delicately  Johnson  treated  this  town  in 
his  published  narrative  is    shown  by  his  description  of  it  in  his 
private  letter  to   Mrs.  Thrale.     To  her  he  had  written: 
came  to  Dundee,  a  dirty  despicable  town."  8     Much  as  M'Nicol  be- 
laboured Johnson,  he  could  not  refrain  from  claiming  him   as  ot 
Scotch  origin.     "  We  are  much  deceived  by  fame,"  he  wrote,  " 
very  near  ancestor  of  his,  who  was  a  native  of  that  country,  did  not 
find  to  his  cost  that  a  tree  was  not  quite  such  a  rarity  in  his  days. 
This  mysterious  hero  of  the  gallows  was  no  doubt  no  Johnson  at 
all,  but  a  Johnston—  of  Ardnamurchan,  probably,  or  of  Glencroe. 

'  M'Nicol  is  ingenious  in  his  treatment  of  the  great  Ossian  con- 
troversy. "The  poems,"  he  says,  "  must  be  the  production  either 
of  Ossian  or  Mr.  Macphcrson.  Dr.  Johnson  does  not  vouchsafe  to 
tell  us  who  else  was  the  author,  and  consequently  the  national 
claim  remains  perfectly  entire.  The  moment  Mr.  Macpherson 
ceases  to  be  admitted  as  a  translator,  he  instantly  acquires  a  title  to 
the  original."  8  Granted  that  he  was  a  ruffian  who  had  tried  by 
menaces  to  hinder  the  detection  of  a  cheat.  What  of  that  ? 
was  a  great  original  ruffian,  and  his  cheat  was  a  work  of  great 


'  Remark,  on  Dr.  Johnson's  Jo,,rncy  to  the 
Hebrides,  p.  270. 

•  Johnson's  W,,  ix.  8.  ^  ^     /'  '"  5fi6 

*  Boswell's/'^''.  v.  71.  *  M'tocol,  p.  266. 


4 


M'Nicol,  p.  287. 


OSSIAN    MACPHRRSON.  I3 

original  genius.  So  that  Caledonia,  if  she  had  one  forger  the  more, 
had  not  one  poet  the  less.  She  made  up  in  genius  what  she  lost  in 
character.  But  this  Dr.  Johnson  failed  to  see,  being,  poor  man, 
"naturally  pompous  and  vain,  and  ridiculously  ambitious  of  an  ex- 
clusive reputation  in  letters."  It  must  have  been  this  same  pom- 


GLENCROE. 


posity,  vanity,  and  ambition  which  led  him  to  say  of  these  poems  : 
"  Sir,  a  man  might  write  such  stuff  for  ever,  if  he  would  abandon 
his  mind  to  it."  ' 

That  Johnson's  narrative  should  have  roused  resentment  is  not 
surprising.  Even  his  friend  Beattie,  "  much  as  he  loved  and 
revered  him,"  yet  found  in  it  "  some  asperities  that  seem  to  be  the 
effect  of  national  prejudice."2  That  "  this  true-born  Englishman," 
as  Boswell  delights  to  call  him,  should  have  given  a  wholly  unpre- 


'  Boswell's  fo/inson,  iv.  183. 


"  Ib.  ii.  435,  ii.  I,  and  Forbes's  Life  of  Beattie,  p.  218. 


,4  INTRODUCTION. 


judiced  account  of  any  country  not  his  own  was  an  impossibility. 
As  regards  Scotland,  the  position  which  he  took  certainly  admitted 
of  justification.  "  When  I  find,"  he  said,  "  a  Scotchman  to  whom  an 
Englishman  is  asa  Scotchman,  thatScotchman  shall  be  as  an  English- 
man to  me."  '  Boswell,  and  perhaps  Boswell  alone,  exactly  answered 
this  requirement,  and  the  two  men  were  fast  friends.  For  many  other 
Scotchmen,  indeed,  he  had  strong  feelings  of  regard,  and  even  of 
friendship—  for  Andrew  Millar  the  bookseller,  for  William  Strahan 
the  printer,  for  Blair,  Beattie,  John  Campbell,  Hailes,  and  Robert- 
son, among  authors,  and  for  his  poor  assistants  in  the  great  work  of 
his  Dictionary,  who  all  came  from  across  the  Tweed.  There  was 
no  want  of  individual  affection,  no  John  Bull  disinclination  that  had 
to  be  overcome  in  the  case  of  each  fresh  acquaintance  which  he 
made.  His  "was  a  prejudice  of  the  head  and  not  of  the  heart." 
He  held  that  the  Scotch,  with  that  clannishness  which  is  found  in 
almost  equal  strength  in  the  outlying  parts  of  the  whole  island, 
in  Cornwall  and  in  Cumberland,  achieved  for  themselves  in  England 
"a  success  which  rather  exceeded  the  due  proportion  of  their  real 
merit."  ''  Jesting  with  a  friend  from  Ireland,  who  feared  "he 
might  treat  the  people  of  that  country  more  unfavourably  than  he 
had  done  the  Scotch,"  he  answered,  "  Sir,  you  have  no  reason  to 
be  afraid  of  me.  The  Irish  are  not  in  a  conspiracy  to  cheat  the 
world  by  false  representations  of  the  merits  of  their  countrymen. 
No,  Sir  :  the  Irish  are  *  fair  people  ;—ti\v]  never  speak  well  of  one 
another."  '  To  Boswell  he  began  a  letter,  not  meant,  of  course,  for 
the  public  eye,  by  saying  :  "  Knowing  as  you  do  the  disposition 
of  your  countrymen  to  tell  lies  in  favour  of  each  other."  When  he 
came  to  write  \\\sjo2irncy,  he  was  led  neither  by  timidity  nor  false 
delicacy  to  conceal  what  he  thought.  He  attacks  that  "national 
combination  so  invidious  that  their  friends  cannot  defend  it,"  which 
is  one  of  the  means  whereby  Scotchmen  "  find,  or  make  their  way  to 
employment,  riches,  and  distinction.""  He  upbraids  that  "  vigilance 
of  jealousy  which  never  goes  to  sleep,"7  which  sometimes  led  them 
to  cross  the  borders  of  boastfulness  and  pass  into  falsehood,  when 
Caledonia  was  their  subject  and  Englishmen  their  audience. 
"A  Scotchman,"  he  writes,  "must  be  a  very  sturdy  moralist 
who  does  not  love  Scotland  better  than  truth  ;  he  will  always  love 
it  better  than  inquiry."  '  Even  in  his  talk  when  among  Scotchmen 


Vs  Johnson,  ii.  306.          -  Ib.  ii.  301.  '  //'.  ii.  296.  "   Works,  ix.  158. 

3  Ib.  v.  20.  '  //'.  ii.  307.  7  Il>.  p.  154.  3  Ib.  p.  Il6. 


ATTACKS   ON    THE    HIGHLANDERS.  15 

he  was  inclined  "  to  expatiate  rather  too  strongly  upon  the  benefits 
derived  to  their  country  from  the  Union."1'  "'We  have  taught 
you,'  said  he,  'and  we'll  do  the  same  in  time  to  all  barbarous 
nations,  to  the  Cherokees,  and  at  last  to  the  Ouran-Outangs,' 
laughing  with  as  much  glee  as  if  Monboddo  had  been  present. 
BOSWELL.  'We  had  wine  before  the  Union.'  JOHNSON.  'No,  Sir; 
you  had  some  weak  stuff,  the  refuse  of  France,  which  would  not 
make  you  drunk.'  BOSWELL.  '  I  assure  you,  Sir,  there  was  a  great 
deal  of  drunkenness.'  JOHNSON.  '  No,  Sir  ;  there  were  people  who 
died  of  dropsies,  which  they  contracted  in  trying  to  get  drunk.'  "  2 

Such  pleasantry  as  this  could  hardly  have  given  offence  to  any- 
one into  whose  skull  a  jest  could  penetrate  by  any  operation  short 
of  a  surgical  one.      But  it   was  a  very  different  matter  when  the 
spoken  jest  passed  into  a  serious  expression  of  opinion  in  print. 
All  the  theoretic  philosophy  of  which  Scotland  justly  boasts  was 
hardly  sufficient  to  support  with  patience  such  a  passage  as  the 
following :     '  Till  the  Union  made  the  Scots  acquainted  with  Eng- 
lish manners  the  culture  of  their  lands  was   unskilful,  and  thetr 
domestic  life  unformed ;    their  tables  were  coarse  as  the  feasts  of 
Esquimaux,  and  their  houses  filthy  as  the  cottages  of  Hottentots. ":: 
His  attacks  on  the  Highlanders  would  have  been  read  with  patience, 
if  not  with  pleasure,   in   Lowland   circles.      "His  account  of  the 
Isles,"  wrote    Beattie,  "  is,  I   dare  say,   very  just.      I    never  was 
there."       These  were  not  the  "asperities  "  of  which  that  amiable 
poet  complained.     Yet  they  were  asperities  which  might  have  pro- 
voked an  incensed  Highlander  to  give  the  author  "  a  crack  on  his 
skull,"  had  he  looked  not  to  the  general  tenour  of  the  narrative,  but 
to  a  few  rough  passages  scattered  up  and  down.     M'Nicol  would 
surely  have  roused  the  anger  of  his  countrymen  to  a  fiercer  heat  had 
he  forborne  to  falsify  Johnson's  words,  and  strung  together  instead 
a  row  of  his  sarcastic  sayings.     The  offensive  passages  are  not  in- 
deed numerous,  but  out  of  such  a  collection  as  the  following  irrita- 
tion enough  might  have  been  provided  :     "  the  genuine  improvi- 
dence of  savages  ;  "  ''  "  a  muddy  mixture  of  pride  and  ignorance  ;  "  " 
"  the  chiefs  gradually  degenerating  from  patriarchal  rulers  to  rapa- 

^  Boswell's  Johnson,  v.  128.           =  Ib.  v.  248.  hut  the  first  Lord  Lyltclton  who  was  meant.    See 

Works,  ix.  24.      Hottentot— "a  respectable  my  J),:  Johnson  :  His  Friends  ami  //is  Cri/ics, 

ttentot    —was  the  term  which  for  more  than  p.   214,  and   my  edition  of  Boswell's  Johnson, 

a   hundred   years   was   supposed    to  have  been  i.  267. 

applied   to  Johnson    by    Lord    Chesterfield.     I  J   Forbes's  Life  of  Beattie,  p.  217. 

have  proved,  however,  that  it  was  not  Johnson,  •'    Works,  ix.  76.                     u  Ib.  p.  86. 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

clous  landlords  ;  "  '  "  the  animating  rabble  "  -  by  which  of  old  a  chief 
was  attended  ;  "  the  rude  speech  of  a  barbarous  people  ;  "  '  "  the 
laxity  of  their  conversation,  by  which  the  inquirer,  by  a  kind  of  in- 
tellectual retrogradation,  knows  less  as  he  hears  more;"4  "the 
Caledonian  bigotry  "  which  helps  "  an  inaccurate  auditor  "  to  believe 
in  the  genuineness  of  Ossian/' 

To  the  sarcasms  which  had  their  foundation  in  Johnson's  dislike 
of  Presbyterianism  Lowlanders  and  Highlanders  were  equally  ex- 
posed. On  Knox  and  "the  ruffians  of  reformation""  he  has  no 
mercy.  It  is  true  that  he  maintains  that  "  we  read  with  as  little 
emotion  the  violence  of  Knox  and  his  followers  as  the  irruptions  of 
Alaric  and  the  Goths."  7  But  how  deeply  he  was  moved  Boswell 
shows,  where  he  describes  him  among  the  ruins  of  the  once  glorious 
magnificence  of  St.  Andrews.  "  I  happened  to  ask  where  John 
Knox  was  buried.  Dr.  Johnson  burst  out,  '  I  hope  in  the  high-way. 
I  have  been  looking  at  his  reformations.' '  The  sight  of  the  ruined 
houses  of  prayer  in  Skye  drew  from  him  the  assertion  that  "  the 
malignant  influence  of  Calvinism  has  blasted  ceremony  and  decency 
together."  In  another  passage  he  describes  the  ancient  "epide- 
mical enthusiasm  compounded  of  sullen  scrupulousness  and  warlike 
ferocity,  which,  in  a  people  whom  idleness  resigned  to  their  own 
thoughts,  was  long  transmitted  in  its  full  strength  from  the  old  to 
the  young."  Ul  Even  for  this  inveterate  ill  a  cure  had  at  length  been 
found.  "  By  trade  and  intercourse  with  England  it  is  visibly 
abating." 

By  the  passages  in  which  he  described  the  bareness  of  the 
eastern  coast  the  most  irritation  was  caused.  The  very  hedges 
were  of  stone,  and  not  a  tree  was  to  be  seen  that  was  not 
younger  than  himself.  "  A  tree  might  be  a  show  in  Scotland  as  a 
horse  in  Venice."  For  this  he  was  handled  as  roughly  as  Joseph's 
brethren.  He  was  little  better  than  a  spy  who  had  come  to  see 
the  nakedness  of  the  land.  The  Scotchmen  of  that  day  could  not 
know,  as  we  know  now,  that  "  he  treated  Scotland  no  worse  than  he 
did  even  his  best  friends,  whose  characters  he  used  to  give  as  they 
appeared  to  him  both  in  light  and  shade.  '  He  was  fond  of  discri- 

1    Works,  ix.  86.  2  lit.  many  churches  to  the  ground  "(South's  Sermons, 

3  Ib.  p.  112.  4  ib.  p.  47.  ed.  1823,  i.  173).    No  man  upheld  the  Reformed 

76.  p.  115.  Church  of  England  more  strongly  than  South. 
°  Ib.  p.  3.     Johnson,  it  should  be  remarked,  '    Works,  ix.  6. 

does  not  write   "the  ruffians  of  the   Reforma-  *  BoswelPsyy/;«w«,  v.  61. 

tion."  He  uses  the  word  as  South  does,  when  he  9   Works,  ix.  61.  "'  Ib.  p.  4. 

speaks  of  "those  times  which  had  reformed  so  u  Ib.  p.  7. 


THE   TOUR   TO    THE    WESTERN    ISLES.  17 

mination,'  said  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  '  which  he  could  not  show 
without  pointing  out  the  bad  as  well  as  the  good  in  every 
character.'  "  l  If  in  his  narrative  he  has  not  spared  the  shade,  every 
fair-minded  reader  must  allow  that  he  has  not  been  sparing  of 
the  light.  John  Wesley,  who  had  often  travelled  over  the  same 
ground  as  far  as  Inverness,  on  May  18,  1776,  recorded  in  his 
Journal  at  Aberdeen  :  "  I  read  over  Dr.  Johnson's  Tour  to  the 
Western  Isles.  It  is  a  very  curious  book,  wrote  with  admirable 
sense,  and,  I  think,  great  fidelity;  although  in  some  respects  he  is 
thought  to  bear  hard  on  the  nation,  which  I  am  satisfied  he  never 
intended."  : 

That  Johnson  was  not  careless  of  the  good  opinion  of  the 
Scotch  is  shown  by  his  eagerness  to  learn  what  Boswell  had  to  tell 
him  about  the  book.  "  Let  me  know  as  fast  as  you  read  it  how 
you  like  it ;  and  let  me  know  if  any  mistake  is  committed,  or  any- 
thing important  left  out."  A  week  later  he  wrote  :  "  I  long  to 
hear  how  you  like  the  book  ;  it  is,  I  think,  much  liked  here."  The 
modesty  of  the  closing  passage  of  his  narrative  should  have  clone 
something  towards  disarming  criticism.  "  Having  passed  my  time 
almost  wholly  in  cities,  I  may  have  been  surprised  by  modes  of 
life  and  appearances  of  nature  that  are  familiar  to  men  of  wider 
survey  and  more  varied  conversation.  Novelty  and  ignorance 
must  always  be  reciprocal,  and  I  cannot  but  be  conscious  that  my 
thoughts  on  national  manners  are  the  thoughts  of  one  who  has  seen 
but  little."  4  The  compliment  which  he  paid  to  the  society  of  the 
capital  must  surely  have  won  some  hearts.  "  I  passed  some  days 
in  Edinburgh,"  he  wrote,  "  with  men  of  learning  whose  names 
want  no  advancement  from  my  commemoration,  or  with  women  of 
elegance,  which  perhaps  disclaims  a  pedant's  praise."'  He  never 
'ets  slip  an  opportunity  of  gracefully  acknowledging  civilities  and 
acts  of  kindness,  or  of  celebrating  worth  and  learning.  As  he  closed 
his  book,  so  he  had  opened  it  with  a  well-turned  compliment.  It 
was,  he  said,  Boswell's  "  acuteness  and  gaiety  of  conversation  and 
civility  of  manners  which  induced  him  to  undertake  the  journey."' 
He  praises  the  kindness  with  which  he  was  gratified  by  the  pro- 
fessors of  St.  Andrews,  and  "  the  elegance  of  lettered  hospitality  " 
with  which  he  wasentertained.7  At  Aberdeen  the  same  grateful  heart 

1  Botwell's_/0/i?u0tt,  ii.  306.  3   lioswell's  Johnson,  ii.  290. 

2  Wesley's  Journal,  iv.  74.     He  repeats  this  '    Works,  ix.  lt>i.  5  //'.  p-  159- 
statement  live  years  later  (//>.  p.  207).                              "  //'.  p.  I.  '  tt.  p.  3. 

D 


INTRODUCTION. 


is  seen.  Among  the  professors  he  found  one  whom  he  had  known 
twenty  years  earlier  in  London.  "Such  unexpected  renewals  of  ac- 
quaintance may  be  numbered  among  the  most  pleasing  incidents  of 
life.  The  knowledge  of  one  professor  soon  procured  me  the  notice  of 
the  rest,  and  I  did  notwant  any  token  of  regard."  l  He  had  the  freedom 


0 


of  the  city  conferred  upon  him.  In  acknowledging  the  honour  he 
compliments  the  town  at  the  expense  of  England,  by  mentioning  a 
circumstance  which,  he  says,  "  I  am  afraid  I  should  not  have  had  to 
say  of  any  city  south  of  the  Tweed  ;  I  found  no  petty  officer  bowing 
for  a  fee."3  With  Lord  Monboddo  he  was  never  on  friendly 
terms.  "  I  knew  that  they  did  not  love  each  other,"  writes  Boswell, 
with  a  studied  softness  of  expression.  Yet  Johnson  in  his  narrative 
praises  "  the  magnetism  of  his  conversation."4  With  Lord  Auchin- 
leck  he  had  that  violent  altercation  which  the  unfortunate  piety  of 
the  son  forbade  the  biographer  to  exhibit  for  the  entertainment  of 
the  public.  Nevertheless,  he  only  mentions  his  antagonist  to  com- 
pliment him."  If  he  attacked  Presbyterianism,  yet  to  the  Presby- 
terian ministers  in  the  Hebrides  he  was  unsparing  of  his  praise. 
He  celebrates  their  learning,  which  was  the  more  admirable  as  they 
were  men  "  who  had  no  motive  to  study  but  generous  curiosity  or 
desire  of  usefulness."  "  However  much  he  differed  from  "  the  learned 
Mr.  Macqueen"  about  Ossian,  yet  he  admits  that  "  his  knowledge  and 
politeness  give  him  a  title  equally  to  kindness  and  respect."  7  With 

1    Works,  p.  ii.  2  See  Appendix.  '  Ib.  pp.  30,  159.  6  Hi.  p.  102. 

3   Works,  p.  14.  4  Ib.  p.  10.  7  Ib.  p.  54. 


JOHNSON'S   COMPLIMENTS   TO    THE   SCOTCH.  ,,) 

the  aged  minister  of  Col  he  had  a  wrangle  over  Bayle,  and  Clarke, 
and  Leibnitz.  "  Had  he  been  softer  with  this  venerable  old  man," 
writes  Boswell,  "  we  might  have  had  more  conversation."  '  This 
rebuke  Johnson  read  in  Boswell's  manuscript.  The  amends  which 
he  makes  is  surely  ample.  He  describes  the  minister's  "  look  of 
venerable  dignity,  excelling  what  I  remember  in  any  other  man.  I 
lost  some  of  his  goodwill  by  treating  a  heretical  writer  with  more 
regard  than  in  his  opinion  a  heretic  could  deserve.  I  honoured 
his  orthodoxy,  and  did  not  much  censure  his  asperity.  A  man 
who  has  settled  his  opinions  does  not  love  to  have  the  tranquillity 
of  his  conviction  disturbed  ;  and  at  seventy-seven  it  is  time  to  be 
in  earnest." 

The  people  he  praises  no  less  than  their  ministers.  "  Civility," 
he  says,  "seems  part  of  the  national  character  of  Highlanders. 
Every  chieftain  is  a  monarch,  and  politeness,  the  natural  product 
of  royal  government,  is  diffused  from  the  Laird  through  the  whole 
clan.  " :t  He  describes  the  daughter  of  the  man  who  kept  the  hut 
in  Glenmorison,  where  he  passed  a  night.  "  Her  conversation 
like  her  appearance  was  gentle  and  pleasing.  We  knew  that  the 
girls  of  the  Highlanders  are  all  gentlewomen,  and  treated  her  with 
great  respect,  which  she  received  as  customary  and  due."4  He 
praises  the  general  hospitality.  "  Wherever  there  is  a  house  the 
stranger  finds  a  welcome.  If  his  good  fortune  brings  him  to  the 
residence  of  a  gentleman  he  will  be  glad  of  a  storm  to  prolong  his 
stay." 5  How  graceful  is  the  compliment  which  he  pays  to  Macleod 
of  Rasay  !  "  Rasay  has  little  that  can  detain  a  traveller  except  the 
Laird  and  his  family  ;  but  their  power  wants  no  auxiliaries.  Such 
a  seat  of  hospitality  amidst  the  winds  and  waters  fills  the  imagina- 
tion with  a  delightful  contrariety  of  images.  Without  is  the  rough 
ocean  and  the  rocky  land,  the  beating  billows  and  the  howling 
storm  ;  within  is  plenty  and  elegance,  beauty  and  gaiety,  the  song 
and  the  dance.  In  Rasay  if  I  could  have  found  a  Ulysses  I  had 
fancied  a  Phaeacia.'"5  To  the  other  branch  of  the  Macleods  he  is 
no  less  complimentary.  "  At  Dunvegan  I  had  tasted  lotus,"  he  wrote, 
"  and  was  in  danger  of  forgetting  that  I  was  ever  to  depart."  7  He 
met  Flora  Macdonald,  and  does  not  let  the  occasion  pass  to  pay  her 
a  high  compliment.  "  Hers  is  a  name  that  will  be  mentioned  in 
history,  and,  if  courage  and  fidelity  be  virtues,  mentioned  with 

1  Boswell's  Johnson,  v.  288.  J  //).  p.  32.  5  lb.  pp.  50,  97. 

*   Works,  ix.  118.  3  Ib.  p.  25,  °  H, .  p.  62.  '  Jl>.  p.  67. 


INTRODUCTION. 


honour."1  In  fact,  lie  rarely  introduces  in  his  narrative  any  living 
person  but  in  way  of  compliment  or  acknowledgment.  "  He 
speaks  ill  of  nobody  but  Ossian,"  said  Lord  Mansfield,  Scotchman 
though  he  was.2  "There  has  been  of  late,"  he  once  said,  "a 
strange  turn  in  travellers  to  be  displeased."  There  was  no  such 
turn  in  him.  From  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  narrative  there 
is  not  a  single  grumble.  In  Mull  last  summer  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  meeting  an  old  general,  a  Highlander,  who  had  seen  a  great 
deal  of  rough  service  in  the  East  Indies.  Someone  in  the 
company  let  drop  an  unfavourable  remark  on  Johnson.  "  I  lately 
read  his  Journey?  the  general  replied,  "  and  when  I  thought  of  his 
age,  his  weak  health,  and  the  rudeness  of  the  accommodation  in 
those  old  days,  I  was  astonished  at  finding  that  he  never  com- 
plained." In  his  food  he  had  a  relish  for  what  was  nice  and 
delicate.  Yet  he  records  that  "  he  only  twice  found  any  reason  to 
complain  of  a  Scottish  table.  He  that  shall  complain  of  his  fare 
in  the  Hebrides  has  improved  his  delicacy  more  than  his  man- 
hood." "  If  an  epicure,"  he  says  in  another  passage,  "could  re- 
move by  a  wish  in  quest  of  sensual  gratifications,  wherever  he  had 
supped  he  would  breakfast  in  Scotland."  5  Boswell,  we  read,  "  was 
made  uneasy  and  almost  fretful"  by  their  bad  accommodation 
in  the  miserable  inn  at  Glenelg.  "  Dr.  Johnson  was  calm.  I  said 
he  was  so  from  vanity.  JOHNSON.  '  No,  Sir,  it  is  from  philoso- 
phy.' '  The  same  philosophy  accompanied  him  not  'only  through 
his  journey,  but  through  his  letters  and  his  narrative.  Nearly  five 
weeks  after  he  had  left  Edinburgh  he  wrote  to  Mrs.  Thrale  : 
"  The  hill  Rattiken  and  the  inn  at  Glenelg  were  the  only  things  of 
which  we  or  travellers  yet  more  delicate  could  find  any  pretensions 
to  complain."  7  Yet  he  was  by  no  means  free  from  bodily  troubles, 
as  his  letters  show.  He  was  "  miserably  deaf,"  he  wrote  at  one  time, 
and  was  still  suffering  from  the  remains  of  inflammation  in  the  eye, 
he  wrote  at  another  time.  His  nerves  seemed  to  be  growing  weaker. 
The  climate,  he  thought,  "  perhaps  not  within  his  degree  of  healthy 
latitude." '  The  climate,  indeed,  had  been  at  its  worst.  In  all 
September  he  had  only  one  day  and  a  half  of  fair  weather,  and  in 
October  perhaps  not  more.9  Kept  indoors  as  he  was  by  the  rain, 
he  often  suffered  under  the  additional  discomfort  of  bad  accommo- 


1    Works,  p.  63. 

''  Bos  well 's_/tf//«.r<»j,  ii.  318. 

*  Ib.  iii.  236. 

4    Works,  ix.  19,  51 


5  //'.  p.  52. 

6  Boswell'syo/wjw/,  v.  146. 

7  Piozzi  Letters,  i.  137. 
"  It.  pp.  127,  165. 


Ib.  p.  182. 


JOHNSON  NO  GRUMBLER.  2t 

elation.  Two  nights  he  passed  in  wretched  huts  ;  one  in  a  barn  ; 
two  in  the  miserable  cabin  of  a  small  trading-ship;  one  in  a  room 
where  the  floor  was  mire.  Even  in  some  of  the  better  houses  he 
had  not  always  a  chamber  to  himself  at  night,  while  in  the  daytime 
privacy  and  quiet  were  not  to  be  enjoyed.  At  Corrichatachin, 
where  he  twice  made  a  stay,  "  we  had,"  writes  Boswell,  "  no  rooms 
that  we  could  command  ;  for  the  good  people  had  no  notion  that  a 
man  could  have  any  occasion  but  for  a  mere  sleeping  place;  so, 
during  the  day,  the  bed-chambers  were  common  to  all  the  house. 
Servants  eat  in  Dr.  Johnson's,  and  mine  was  a  kind  of  general 
rendezvous  of  all  under  the  roof,  children  and  clogs  not  excepted."  l 

He  not  only  passes  over  in  silence  the  weariness  and  discom- 
forts of  his  tour,  but  he  understates  the  risks  which  he  ran.  On 
that  dark  and  stormy  October  night,  when  the  frail  vessel  in  which 
he  had  embarked  was  driven  far  out  of  its  course  to  Col,  he  was  in 
great  danger.  "  '  Thank  God,  we  are  safe  ! '  cried  the  young  Laird, 
as  at  last  they  spied  the  harbour  of  Lochiern."1  This  scene  of 
peril,  of  which  Boswell  gives  a  spirited  description,  is  dismissed  by 
Johnson  in  his  letter  to  Mrs.  Thrale  in  a  few  words:  "A  violent 
gust,  which  Bos.  had  a  great  mind  to  call  a  tempest,  forced  us 
into  Col,  an  obscure  island."  3  In  his  narrative,  if  he  makes  a  little 
more  of  it,  he  does  so,  it  seems,  only  for  the  sake  of  paying  a  com- 
pliment to  the  seamanship  of  Maclean  of  Col.4  It  was  this  stormy 
night,  especially,  that  was  in  Sir  Walter  Scott's  mind  when  he 
described  "  the  whole  expedition  as  being  highly  perilous,  con- 
sidering the  season  of  the  year,  the  precarious  chance  of  getting 
seaworthy  boats,  and  the  ignorance  of  the  Hebrideans,  who  are 
very  careless  and  unskilful  sailors."5 

If  votive  offerings  have  been  made  to  the  God  of  storms  by 
those  who  have  escaped  the  perils  of  the  deep,  surely  some  tall 
column  might  well  be  raised  on  the  entrance  to  Lochiern  by  the 
gratitude  of  the  readers  of  the  immortal  Life.  Had  the  ship  been 
overwhelmed,  not  only  the  hero,  but  his  biographer,  would  have 
perished.  One  more  great  man  would  have  been  added  to  the  sad 
long  list  of  those  of  whom  the  poet  sang  : 

"  Omnes  illacrimabiles 
Urguentur,  ignotique  longa 
Nocte,  carent  quia  vate  sacro." 

1  Bosvvell's/tf//«j»H,  v.  262.          2  II).  v.  283.  4    Works,  ix.  117. 

3  Piozzi  Letters,  i.  167.  5  BosweU's./b/j».n>»,  v.  283,  a.  I. 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

"  In  endless  night  they  sleep  unwept,  unknown, 
No  bard  had  they  to  make  all  time  their  own."  ' 

By  the  men  of  Johnson's  time  the  journey  was  looked  upon  as  one 
of  real  adventure.  When  Boswell  visited  Voltaire  at  Ferney, 
and  mentioned  their  design  of  taking  this  tour,  "he  looked  at  him 
as  if  he  had  talked  of  going  to  the  North  Pole,  and  said,  'You  do 
not  insist  on  my  accompanying  you  ? '  '  No,  Sir.'  '  Then  I  am 
very  willing  you  should  go.'"  Dr.  Percy,  of  the  Rcliqucs,  wrote 
from  Alnwick  Castle  that  a  gentleman  who  had  lately  returned 
from  the  Hebrides,  had  told  him  that  the  two  travellers  were 
detained  prisoners  in  Skye,  their  return  having  been  intercepted 
by  the  torrents.  "  Sir  Alexander  Macdonald  and  his  lady,"  Percy 
adds,  "  at  whose  house  our  friend  Johnson  is  a  captive,  had  made 
their  escape  before  the  floods  cut  off  their  retreat ;  so  that  possibly 
we  may  not  see  our  friend  till  next  summer  releases  him."3  A 
Glasgow  newspaper  gave  much  the  same  report,  but  attributed  his 
delay  to  the  clanger  of  crossing  in  the  late  autumn  "such  a  stormy 
surge  in  a  small  boat."  On  the  Island  of  Col  they  were  indeed 
storm-bound  for  eleven  days.  "  On  the  travellers'  return  to 
Edinburgh,"  writes  Boswell,  "  everybody  had  accosted  us  with 
some  studied  compliment.  Dr.  Johnson  said,  'I  am  really  ashamed 
of  the  congratulations  which  we  receive.  We  are  addressed  as  if 
we  had  made  a  voyage  to  Nova  Zembla,  and  suffered  five  persecu- 
tions in  Japan.'"5  Dr.  Robertson  "had  advanced  to  him  repeating 
a  line  of  Virgil,  which  I  forget,"  Boswell  adds.  "  I  suppose  either, 

Post  varies  casus,  per  tot  discrimiiia  renting 
or 

—  multum  ilk  et  tern's  jactatus  et  altol' 

Johnson  afterwards  remarked  that  to  see  a  man  come  up  with  a 
formal  air  and  a  Latin  line,  when  we  had  no  fatigue  and  no  danger, 
was  provoking."  Of  exaggeration  he  had  always  a  strong  hatred, 
and  would  not  allow  it  in  his  own  case  any  more  than  in  another's. 
He  had  undergone  great  fatigue,  and  he  had  been  in  real  danger, 
but  of  both  he  made  light.  It  was  in  high  spirits  that  he  returned 
home  after  his  tour  of  a  hundred  days.  "  I  came  home  last  night," 
he  wrote  to  Boswell,  "and  am  ready  to  begin  a  new  journey."1 

1   Francis's  Horace,  Odes,  IV.  ix.  26.  ''  "Through  various  hazards  ami  events  we 
'*  Bosweirsya4«tt>»,  v.  14.  move."      Dryden,  sEneid,  i.  204. 

3  From  tlie  original,  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  7   "  Long  labours  both   by  sea  and  land   he 
W.  R.  Smith,  of  Greatham  Moor,  West  Liss.  bore."  Ib.  i.  3. 

4  BosweH's^/b^TWff,  v.  344.  '  //>.  392.  ^  Bos\veH's_/i?////.>w/,  ii.  268. 


JOHNSON'S    DELIGHT    IN    HIS   TOUR.  23 

He  had  fulfilled  his  long-cherished  wish,  and  no  wonder  his  spirits 
were  high.  His  father,  the  old  Lichfield  bookseller,  had  put  into 
his  hands  when  he  was  very  young  Martin's  Description  of  the 
Western  Islands,  and  had  thus  roused  his  youthful  fancy.1  His 
longing  to  visit  the  wild  scenes  of  which  he  had  read  in  his  child- 
hood would  in  all  likelihood  have  remained  ungratined,  had  it  not 
been  for  Boswell.  He  had  known  that  lively  young  gentleman 
but  a  very  few  weeks,  when,  over  supper  "in  a  private  room  at  the 
Turk's  Head  Coffee-house  in  the  Strand,"  he  promised  to  accom- 
pany him  to  the  Hebrides.2  Ten  years  elapsed  before  the  promise 
was  fulfilled.  "  I  cannot  but  laugh,"  he  said  at  Armidale  in  Skye, 
"  to  think  of  myself  roving  among  the  Hebrides  at  sixty.3  I 


ARMIDALE. 


wonder  where  I  shall  rove  at  four-score."4  To  Mrs.  Thrale 
soon  after  his  birthday  he  wrote  :  "  You  remember  the  Doge  of 
Genoa,  who  being  asked  what  struck  him  most  at  the  French 
Court,  answered,  '  Myself.'  I  cannot  think  many  things  here  more 
likely  to  affect  the  fancy,  than  to  see  Johnson  ending  his  sixty- 
fourth  year  in  the  wilderness  of  the  Hebrides."  5  "  Little  did  I 
once  think,"  he  wrote  another  day,  "  of  seeing  this  region  of 
obscurity,  and  little  did  you  once  expect  a  salutation  from  this 
verge  of  European  life.  I  have  now  the  pleasure  of  going  where 
nobody  goes,  and  seeing  what  nobody  sees." '  So  close  to  this 
verge  did  Mrs.  Thrale  suppose  he  was,  that  she  thought  that  he 
was  in  sight  of  Iceland.7  She  and  his  friends  of  the  Mitre  or 
the  Literary  Club  would  have  been  astonished  could  they  have 


1  Boswell'syi7/;H.tD«,  i.  450. 
3  He  was  sixty-four. 

«,  v.  278. 


'  PiozU  Letters,  \.  1 58. 
7  Ib.  i.  188. 


0  Ib.  i.  120. 


24  INTRODUCTION. 

seen  him  that  ni^ht  in  Col  when  "  he  strutted  about  the  room  with 

O 

a    broad-sword  anil   target,"  and   that  other   night  when   Boswell 
"  put  a  large  blue  bonnet  on  the  top  of  his  bushy  grey  wig." ' 

The  motives  which  led  him  on  his  adventurous  journey  were 
not  those  which  every  summer  and  autumn  bring  travellers  in 
swarms,  not  only  from  England,  but  from  the  mainland  of  Europe, 
from  across  the  wide  Atlantic,  from  India,  from  Southern  Africa, 
from  Australia  and  New  Zealand  to  these  Highlands  of  poetry  and 
romance.  "  I  got,"  he  said,  "  an  acquisition  of  more  ideas  by  my 
tour  than  by  anything  that  I  remember.  I  saw  quite  a  different 
system  of  life."1  It  was  life,  not  scenery,  which  he  went  to  study. 
On  his  return  to  the  south  of  Scotland  he  was  asked  "  how  he 
liked  the  Highlands.  The  question  seemed  to  irritate  him,  for  he 
answered,  '  How,  Sir,  can  you  ask  me  what  obliges  me  to  speak 
unfavourably  of  a  country  where  I  have  been  hospitably  enter- 
tained ?  Who  can  like  the  Highlands  ?  I  like  the  inhabitants 
very  well.' '  The  love  of  wild  scenery  was  in  truth  only  beginning 
as  his  life  was  drawing  to  its  close.  "  It  is  but  of  late,"  wrote 
Pennant  in  17/2,  "that  the  North  Britons  became  sensible  of  the 
beauties  of  their  country  ;  but  their  search  is  at  present  amply 
rewarded.  Very  lately  a  cataract  of  uncommon  height  was  dis- 
covered on  the  Bruar."  '  Fifteen  years  later  Burns,  in  his  Humble 
Petition  of  Brtiar  Water,  shows  that  the  discovery  had  been  fol- 
lowed up  : 

"  Here  haply  too  at  vernal  dawn 
Some  musing  Bard  may  stray, 

And  eye  the  smoking  dewy  lawn 
And  misty  mountain  grey." 

But  in  the  year  1773  Johnson  could  say  without  much,  if  indeed 
any  exaggeration,  that  "  to  the  southern  inhabitants  of  Scotland 
the  state  of  the  mountains  and  the  islands  is  equally  unknown 
with  that  of  Borneo  and  Sumatra  ;  of  both  they  have  only  heard  a 
little  and  guess  the  rest."  3  Staffa  had  been  just  discovered  by  Sir 
Joseph  Banks.  It  seems  almost  passing  belief,  but  yet  it  is 
strictly  true,  that  Staffa — Staffa,  as  one  of  the  wonders  of  creation 
—was  unknown  till  the  eve  of  Johnson's  visit  to  the  Hebrides. 
The  neighbouring  islanders  of  course  had  seen  it,  but  had  seen  it 
without  curiosity  or  emotion.  They  were  like  the  impassive 

1   Boswell's>/5«w«,  v.  324.  '    Tour  in  Scotland  (ed.   1776),   ii.   59.     The 

1  Ib.  iv.  199.  Bruar  is  near  Blair-Athole. 

3  Ib.  v.  377.  '•  Johnson's  Works,  ix.  84. 


THE    DISCOVERY    OF   STAFFA.  25 

Frenchman  who  lived  in  Paris  throughout  the  whole  of  the  Reign 
of  Terror,  and  did  not  notice  that  anything  remarkable  went  on. 
It  was  on  August  12,  1 772,  a  day  which  should  for  ever  be  famous 
in  the  annals  of  discovery,  that  Banks  coming  to  anchor  in  the 
Sound  of  Mull,  "was  asked  ashore"  by  Mr.  Macleane  of  Drnm- 
nen.  At  his  house  he  met  with  one  Mr.  Leach,  an  English 
gentleman,  who  told  him  that  at  the  distance  of  about  nine  leagues 
lay  an  island,  unvisited  even  by  the  Highlanders,  with  pillars  on  it 
like  those  of  the  Giant's  Causeway.1 

No  yachtsman  as  yet  threaded  his  way  through  the  almost 
countless  islets  of  our  western  seas  ;  the  only  sails  as  yet  reflected 
on  the  unruffled  surface  of  the  land-locked  firths  were  the  fisher's 
and  the  trader's.  For  the  sea  as  yet  love  was  neither  felt  nor 
affected.  There  was  no  gladness  in  its  dark-blue  waters.  Fifteen 
years  were  to  pass  before  Byron  was  born— the  first  of  our  poets, 
it  has  been  said,  who  sang  the  delights  of  sailing.  A  ship  was  still 
"  a  jail,  with  the  chance  of  being  drowned."  No  Southerner  went 
to  the  Highlands  to  hunt,  or  shoot,  or  fish.  No  one  sought  there  a 
purer  air.  It  was  after  Johnson's  tour  that  an  English  writer  urged 
the  citizens  of  Edinburgh  to  plant  trees  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
their  town  because  "  the  increase  of  vegetation  would  purify  the 
air,  and  dispel  those  putrid  and  noxious  vapours  which  are 
frequently  wafted  from  the  Highlands."'  It  was  on  an  early  day 
of  August,  in  a  finer  season  than  had  been  known  for  years,  that 
Wolfe,  the  hero  of  Quebec,  complained  that  neither  temperance 
nor  exercise  could  preserve  him  in  any  tolerable  health  in  the  un- 
friendly climate  of  Loch  Lomond.1  Of  all  the  changes  which  have 
come  over  our  country,  perhaps  none  was  more  unforeseen  than  the 
growth  of  this  passion  for  the  Highlands  and  the  Hebrides.  Could 
Johnson  have  learnt  from  some  one  gifted  with  prophetic  power 
that  there  were  passages  in  his  narrative  which  would  move  the 
men  of  the  coming  century  to  scoff,  it  was  not  his  references  to 
scenery  which  would  have  roused  his  suspicion.  I  have  heard  a 
Scotchman  laugh  uproariously  over  his  description  of  a  mountain 
as  "a  considerable  protuberance."  He  did  not  know  however 
where  the  passage  came,  and  he  admitted  that,  absurd  as  it 
was,  it  was  not  quite  so  ridiculous  when  taken  with  the  context. 

1  Troil's  Letters  on  Iceland  (yd  ed.),  p.  288.  a  Boswell's  Jbftnson,  i.  348. 

There  is  a  notice  of  the  discovery  in  the  Gentle-  3  Topham's  Letters  from  Edinburgh,  p.  233. 

man's  Magazine  for  1772,    p.    540,   and  in  the  *  He  was  stationed  there  with  his  regiment. 

Annual  Register  for  the  same  year,  i.  139.  Wright's  Life  of  General  \Volfe,  p.  271. 

E 


26  INTRODUCTION. 

"  Another  mountain,"  said  Hoswell,  "  I  called  immense.  '  No,'  re- 
plied Johnson,  '  it  is  no  more  than  a  considerable  protuberance.'  "  l 
It  was  his  hatred  of  exaggeration  and  love  of  accurate  language 
which  provoked  the  correction — the  same  hatred  and  the  same  love 
which  led  him  at  college  to  check  his  comrades  if  they  called  a 
thing  "prodigious."1  But  to  us,  nursed  as  we  have  been  and  our 
fathers  before  us  in  a  romantic  school,  the  language  of  Johnson  and 
of  his  contemporaries  about  the  wild  scenes  of  nature  never  fails  to 
rouse  our  astonishment  and  our  mirth.  Were  they  to  come  back 
to  earth,  I  do  not  know  but  that  at  our  extravagancies  of  admira- 
tion and  style,  our  affectations  in  the  tawdry  art  of  "  word-painting," 
and  at  our  preference  of  barren  mountains  to  the  meadow-lands, 
and  corn-fields,  and  woods,  and  orchards,  and  quiet  streams  of 
southern  England,  their  strong  and  manly  common  sense  might 
not  fairly  raise  a  still  heartier  laugh. 

The  ordinary  reader  is  apt  to  attribute  to  an  insensibility  to 
beauty  in  Johnson  what,  to  a  great  extent,  was  common  to  most  of 
the  men  of  his  time.  It  is  true  that  for  the  beauties  of  nature, 
whether  wild  or  tame,  his  perception  was  by  no  means  quick. 
Nevertheless,  we  find  his  indifference  to  barren  scenery  largely 
shared  in  by  men  of  poetic  temperament.  .Even  Gray,  who  looked 
with  a  poet's  eye  on  the  crags  and  cliffs  and  torrents  by  which  his 
path  wound  along  as  he  went  up  to  the  Grande  Chartreuse,  yet, 
early  in  September,  when  the  heather  would  be  all  in  bloom,  writes 
of  crossing  in  Perthshire  "  a  wide  and  dismal  heath  fit  for  an  assem- 
bly of  witches." ;  Wherever  he  wandered  he  loved  to  find  the 
traces  of  men.  It  was  not  desolation,  but  the  earth  as  the  beau- 
tiful home  of  man  that  moved  him  and  his  fellows.  Mentem  mor- 
talia  tangunt.  He  found  the  Apennines  not  so  horrid  as  the  Alps, 
because  not  only  the  valleys  but  even  the  mountains  themselves 
were  many  of  them  cultivated  within  a  little  of  their  very  tops.4 
The  fifth  Earl  of  Carlisle,  a  poet  though  not  a  Gray,  in  August, 
1 768,  hurried  faster  even  than  the  post  across  the  Tyrol  from 
Verona  to  Mannheim,  "because  there  was  nothing  but  rest  that 
was  worth  stopping  one  moment  for."  The  sameness  of  the 
scenery  was  wearisome  to  his  lordship,  "  large  rocky  mountains, 
covered  with  fir-trees  ;  a  rapid  river  in  the  valley ;  the  road  made 
like  a  shelf  on  the  side  of  the  hill."  He  rejoiced  when  he  took  his 

1  BosweU's/o/iKW«,  v.  141.  *  Ib.  iii.  303.  3  Gray's  Works,  iv.  57.          4  //'.  ii.  78. 


MOUNTAIN    SCENERY. 


27 


leave  of  the  Alps,  and  came  upon  "  fields  very  well  cultivated, 
valleys  with  rich  verdure,  and  little  woods  which  almost  persuaded 
him  he  was  in  England." 

There  is  a  passage  in  Camden's  description  of  Argyleshire  in 
which  we  find  feelings  expressed  which  for  the  next  two  centuries 
were  very  generally  entertained.  "  Along  the  shore,"  he  writes, 
"  the  country  is  more 
unpleasant  in  sight, 
what  with  rocks  and 
what  with  blackish 
barren  mountains. ": 
One  hundred  and  fifty 
years  after  this  was 
written,  an  English- 
man, describing  in 
1 740  the  beautiful 
road  which  runs  along 
the  south-eastern 
shore  of  Loch  Ness, 
calls  the  rugged  moun- 
tains "  those  hideous 
productions  of  na- 
ture."3  He  pictures 
to  himself  the  terror 
which  would  come 
upon  the  Southerner 
who  "should  be 
brought  blindfold  into 
some  narrow  rocky 
hollow,  inclosed  with 
these  horrid  prospects, 

and  there  should  have  his  bandage  taken  off.  He  would  be  ready 
to  die  with  fear,  as  thinking  it  impossible  he  should  ever  get  out  to 
return  to  his  native  country."  4  This  account  was  very  likely  read 
by  Johnson,  for  it  was  published  in  London  only  nineteen  years 
before  he  made  his  tour.  In  the  narrative  of  a  Volunteer  in  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland's  army,  we  find  the  same  gloom  cast  by 

1  George  Selwyn  and  his  Contemporaries,   ii.  *  Letters  from  a  Gentleman  in  the  North  of 

319.  Scotland,  ii.  339. 

'*  Camden's  Description  of  Scotland  (z&.  1695),  *  Ib.  p.  13. 
P-  137- 


LOCH   NESS,    NEAR   FOYERS. 


28  INTRODUCTION. 

mountain  scenery  on  the  spirits  of  Englishmen.  The  soldiers  who 
were  encamped  near  Loch  Ness  fell  sick  daily  in  their  minds  as 
well  as  in  their  bodies  from  nothing  but  the  sadness  produced  by 
the  sight  of  the  black  barren  mountains  covered  with  snow,  with 
streams  of  water  rolling  down  them.  To  divert  their  melancholy, 
which  threatened  to  develop  even  into  hypochondriacal  madness, 
races  were  held.  It  was  with  great  joy  that  the  volunteer  at  last 
"  turned  his  back  upon  these  hideous  mountains  and  the  noisy  ding 
of  the  great  falls  of  waters." 

Even  the  dales  of  Cumberland  struck  strangers  with  awe. 
Six  months  before  Wordsworth  was  born,  Gray  wandered  up 
Borrowdale  to  the  point  where  now  the  long  train  of  tourist-laden 
coaches  day  after  day  in  summer  turns  to  the  right  towards 
Honister  Pass  and  Buttermere.  "  All  farther  access,"  he  wrote, 
"  is  here  barred  to  prying  mortals,  only  there  is  a  little  path  wind- 
ing over  the  Fells,  and  for  some  weeks  in  the  year  passable  to  the 
Dale's-men  ;  but  the  mountains  know  well  that  these  innocent 
people  will  not  reveal  the  mysteries  of  their  ancient  kingdom,  the 
reign  of  Chaos  and  Old  Night."  3 

A  few  days  after  Johnson  had  arrived  in  Scotland,  Mason,  the 
poet,  visited  Keswick.  Many  of  the  woods  which  had  charmed 
his  friend  Gray  had  been  since  cut  down,  and  a  dry  season  had 
reduced  the  cascade  to  scanty  rills.  "  With  the  frightful  and 
surprising  only,"  he  wrote,  "  I  cannot  be  pleased."  3  He  and  his 
companion  climbed  to  the  summit  of  Skiddaw,  where,  just  as  if 
they  were  on  the  top  of  the  Matterhorn,  they  found  that  "  respira- 
tion seemed  to  be  performed  with  a  kind  of  asthmatic  oppression."1 
To  John  Wesley,  a  traveller  such  as  few  men  have  ever  been,  wild 
scenery  was  no  more  pleasing  than  to  the  man  who  wandered  for 
the  first  time.  Those  "  horrid  mountains  "  he  twice  calls  the  fine 
ranges  of  hills  in  the  North  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  whose  waters 
feed  the  Swale  and  the  Tees,  though  it  was  in  summer-time  that 
he  was  travelling.0  To  Pennant  Glencroe  was  "  the  seat  of  melan- 
choly." Beattie,  Burns's  "  sweet  harmonious  Beattie,"  finds  the 
same  sadness  in  the  mountains  : 

"  The  Highlands  of  Scotland  "  (he  writes)  "  are  a  picturesque,  but  in  general  a 
melancholy  country.  Long  tracts  of  mountainous  desert,  covered  with  dark  heath, 

1  James    Ray's   History  of  the  Rebellion  of          4  An  Excursion  to  the  Lakes,  p.  157. 
1747  (ed.  1752),  pp.  365,  383.  5  \Vesley's/<7«/-«a/,  iii.  336,  465. 

*  Gray's  Works,  iv.  150.  G   Tour  in  Scotland,  i.  222. 

3  Walpole's  Letters,  v.  501. 


OT 
CO 


THE    MELANCHOLY    HIGHLANDS.  29 

and  often  obscured  by  misty  weather  ;  narrow  valleys,  thinly  inhabited  and  bounded 
by  precipices  resounding  with  the  fall  of  torrents  ;  a  soil  so  rugged,  and  a  climate  so 
dreary,  as  in  many  parts  to  admit  neither  the  amusements  of  pasturage  nor  the 
labours  of  agriculture  ;  the  mournful  dashing  of  waves  along  the  friths  and  lakes 
that  intersect  the  country;  the  portentous  noises  which  every  change  of  the  wind, 
and  every  increase  and  diminution  of  the  waters,  is  apt  to  raise  in  a  lonely  region 
full  of  echoes,  and  rocks,  and  caverns;  the  grotesque  and  ghastly  appearance  of 
such  a  landscape  by  the  light  of  the  moon—  objects  like  these  diffuse  a  gloom  over 
the  fancy  which  may  be  compatible  enough  with  occasional  and  social  merriment, 
but  cannot  foil  to  tincture  the  thoughts  of  a  native  in  the  hour  of  silence  and 
solitude."  ' 

The  French  writer,  Faujas  de  Saint  Fond,  who  visited  the 
Highlands  about  the  year  1780,  was  touched  with  the  same  un  ro- 
mantic gloom.  When  on  his  way  from  the  barren  mountains  of 
the  north  he  reached  the  fertile  southern  shore  of  Loch  Tay,  and 
caught  the  first  glimpse  of  the  change  to  happier  climes,  his  soul 
experienced  as  sweet  a  joy  as  is  given  by  the  first  breath  of  spring. 
He  had  escaped  from  a  land  where  winter  seemed  eternally  to  reign, 
where  all  was  wild,  and  barren,  and  sad.2  Even  Macleod  of  Mac- 
leod,  the  proprietor  of  nine  inhabited  isles  and  of  islands  uninha- 
bited almost  beyond  number,  who  held  four  times  as  much  land  as 
the  Duke  of  Bedford,  even  that  "mighty  monarch,"  as  Johnson  called 
him,"  looked  upon  life  in  his  castle  at  Dunvegan  as  "  confinement  in 
a  remote  corner  of  the  world,"  and  upon  the  Western  Islands  as 
"  dreary  regions."  '  Slight,  then,  must  have  been  the  shock  which 
Johnson  gave  even  to  the  poets  among  his  fellows,  when  on  "  a  de- 
lightful day  "  in  April,  he  set  Fleet  Street  with  its  "cheerful  scene" 
above  Tempe,  and  far  above  Mull.5  To  the  men  of  his  time  rocks 
would  have  "  towered  in  horrid  nakedness,"  °  and  "  wandering  in 
Skye  "  would  have  seemed  "  a  toilsome  drudgery."  7  Nature  there 
would  have  looked  "  naked,"  and  these  poverty-stricken  regions 
"  malignant."  '  Few  would  have  been  "  the  allurements  of  these 
islands,"  for  "desolation  and  penury"  would  have  given  as  "little 
pleasure"  to  them  as  it  did  to  him."  In  Glencroe  they  would  have 
found  "  a  black  and  dreary  region,"10  and  in  Mull  "a  gloomy  deso- 
lation." u  Everywhere  "  they  would  have  been  repelled  by  the 
wide  extent  of  hopeless  sterility,"  12  and  everywhere  fatigued  by  the 


ssays  on  Poetry  cinil  Alusic,  p.  169.  °   Johnson's  IVorks,  ix.  25. 

2  Voyage  en  AngUterre,  etc.,  ii.  201.  '  riozzi  Letters,  i.  138. 

3  Piozzi  Letters,  \.  154,  anil  ftosvie\\'&  Johnson,  *   ll'ar/cs,  ix.  78,  153. 

.  231.  »  J/,.  p.  ,53.  10  //,.  p.  ,56. 

4  Croker's  Bonydl((i&.  1835),  iv.  327.  "  Il>.  p.  150.  '"  //>.  p.  35. 
''  I3osweirs_/o/;«i0«,  iii.  302. 


30  INTRODUCTION. 

want  of  "  variety  in  universal  barrenness."'  In  the  midst  of  such 
scenes,  as  the  autumn  day  was  darkening  to  its  close,  they  would 
have  allowed  that,  "  when  there  is  a  guide  whose  conduct  may  be 
trusted,  a  mind  not  naturally  too  much  disposed  to  fear,  may  pre- 
serve some  degree  of  cheerfulness  ;  but  what,"  they  would  have 
asked,  "  must  be  the  solicitude  of  him  who  should  be  wandering 
among  the  crags  and  hollows  benighted,  ignorant,  and  alone  ?": 
Upon  the  islets  on  Loch  Lomond  they  would  have  longed  "to 
employ  all  the  arts  of  embellishment,"  so  that  these  little  spots 
should  no  longer  "  court  the  gazer  at  a  distance,  but  disgust  him  at 
his  approach,  when  he  finds  instead  of  soft  lawns  and  shady  thickets 
nothing  more  than  uncultivated  ruggeclness." :  Everywhere  they 
would  have  regretted  the  want  of  the  arts  and  civilization  and 
refinements  of  modern  life. 

Had  Johnson  been  treated  more  kindly  by  the  weather,  doubt- 
less the  gloom  of  the  landscape  would  have  been  less  reflected  upon 
his  pages.  Fifty-eight  days  of  rain  to  three  days  of  clear  skies 
would  have  been  sufficient  to  depress  even  the  wildest  worshipper 
of  rude  nature.  In  the  eleven  days  in  which  he  was  kept  prisoner 
by  storms  in  Col,  he  had  "  no  succession  of  sunshine  to  rain,  or  of 
calms  to  tempests;  wind  and  rain  were  the  only  weather."4  When 
the  sun  did  shine  he  lets  us  catch  a  little  of  its  cheerful  light.  His 
first  day's  Highland  journey  took  him  along  the  shore  of  Loch 
Ness  in  weather  that  was  bright,  though  not  hot.  "  The  way  was 
very  pleasant ;  on  the  left  were  high  and  steep  rocks,  shaded  with 
birch,  and  covered  with  fern  or  heath.  On  the  right  the  limpid 
waters  of  Loch  Ness  were  beating  their  bank,  and  waving  their 
surface  by  a  gentle  undulation."  5  The  morrow  was  equally  fine. 
How  prettily  he  has  described  his  rest  in  the  valley  on  the  bank, 
where  he  first  thought  of  writing  the  story  of  his  tour,  "  with  a  clear 
rivulet  streaming  at  his  feet.  The  day  was  calm,  the  air  was  soft, 
and  all  was  rudeness,  silence  and  solitude."0  Very  different  would 
have  been  the  tale  which  he  told  had  he  travelled  in  the  days  of  fast 
and  commodious  steamboats,  good  roads  and  carriages,  comfortable 
inns,  post-offices,  telegraphs,  and  shops.  He  would  not  have  seen 
a  different  system  of  life,  or  got  an  acquisition  of  ideas,  but  he 
might  have  found  patience,  and  even  promptings  for  descriptions  of 
the  beauties  of  rugged  nature.  "  In  an  age  when  every  London 

1  Piozzi  Letters,  \.  135.  «  Piozzi  Letters,  i.  169. 

*    Works,  ix.  73.  '•>  lb.  p.  156.  '    Works,  ix.  25.  G  Ib.  p.  36. 


INDIFFERENCF,   TO    SCENERY. 


3' 


citizen  makes  Loch  Lomond  his  wash-pot,  and  throws  his  shoe 
over  Ben  Nevis,"  '  the  old  man  may  easily  be  mocked  for  his  indif- 
ference to  scenery.  But  the  elderly  traveller  of  our  times,  who 
whirled  along  "  in  a  well-appointed  four-horse  coach,"  indicates  the 
beauties  of  nature  to  his  companions,  and  utters  exclamations  of 
delight,  as  from  time  to  time  he  takes  his  cigar  from  his  lips,  might 
have  felt  as  little  enthusiasm  as  Johnson,  had  he  had,  like  him,  to 
cross  Skye  and  Mull  on  horseback,  by  paths  so  narrow  that  each 
rider  had  to  go  singly,  and  so  craggy  that  constant  care  was 
required. 


LOCH    LOMOND. 


The  scenery  in  which  he  took  most  delight  was  the  park-lands 
of  southern  and  midland  England. 

"  Where  lawns  extend  that  scorn  Arcadian  pride, 
And  brighter  streams  than  fam'd  Hydaspes  glide. 
There  all  around  the  gentlest  breezes  stray, 
There  gentle  music  melts  on  every  spray ; 
Creation's  mildest  charms  are  there  combin'd, 
Extremes  are  only  in  the  master's  mind."2 

"  Sweet  Auburn  "  would  have  been  dearer  to  him  than  all  the  wilds 
of  the  Highlands.  But  Auburn  scenery  he  did  not  find  even  in  the 
Lowlands.  Had  Goldsmith  passed  his  life  in  Ayrshire  or  even  in 
"  pleasant  Teviotdale,"  the  Deserted  Village  would  never  have  been 
written.  Burns  had  never  seen  an  Auburn,  nor  even  that  simpler 
rural  beauty  which  was  so  dear  to  Wordsworth.  No  "  lovely  cot- 
tage in  the  guardian  nook  "  had  "  stirred  him  deeply."  He  knew 
nothing  of  the  sacredness  of 


1  Lockhart's  Life  of  Scott,  iii.   239. 


Goldsmith's  Traveller,  1.  319. 


32  INTRODUCTION. 

"  The  roses  to  the  porch  which  they  entwine."  ' 

In  Scotland  was  seen  the  reverse  of  the  picture  in  which  Goldsmith 
had  painted  Italy. 

"  In  florid  beauty  groves  and  fields  appear, 

Man  seems  the  only  growth  that  dwindles  here."2 

In  Scotland  man  was  nourished  to  the  most  stubborn  strength  of 
character,  but  beauty  was  the  growth  that  dwindled.  In  the  hard 
struggle  for  bare  living,  and  in  the  gloom  of  a  religion  which  gave 
strength  but  crushed  loveliness,  no  man  thought  of  adorning  his 
home  as  if  it  had  been  his  bride.  Wordsworth  compared  the 
manses  in  Scotland  with  the  parsonages,  even  the  poor  parsonages 
in  England,  and  said  that  neither  they  nor  their  gardens  and 
grounds  had  the  same  "  attractive  appearance." ;  The  English 
country-house,  with  its  lawns,  its  gardens,  and  its  groves,  which 
acids  such  a  singular  charm  to  our  landscape,  had  not  its  counter- 
part on  the  other  side  of  the  border.  Elderly  men  could 
still  recall  the  day  when  the  approach  to  the  laird's  dwelling  led 
past  the  stable  and  the  cow-house,  when  the  dunghill  was  heaped 
up  close  to  the  hall-door,  and  when,  instead  of  lawns  and  beds  of 
flowers,  all  around  grew  a  plentiful  crop  of  nettles,  docks,  and  hem- 
locks.1 Some  improvement  had  been  already  made.  A  taste  had 
happily  begun  for  "  neat  houses  and  ornamental  fields,"  and  to  the 
hopeful  patriot  there  was  "  the  pleasing  prospect  that  Scotland  might 
in  a  century  or  sooner  compare  with  England,  not  indeed  in  mag- 
nificence of  country-seats,  but  in  sweetness  and  variety  of  concor- 
dant parts. ";  Even  at  that  time  it  supplied  England  with  its  best 
gardeners,6  and  nevertheless  it  was  a  country  singularly  bare  of 
gardens.  "  Pray,  now,  are  you  ever  able  to  bring  the  sloe  to  per- 
fection?" asked  Johnson  of  Bosvvell.7  So  far  was  nature  from 
being  adorned  that  she  had  been  everywhere  stripped  naked. 
Woods  had  been  cut  down,  not  even  had  groups  of  trees  been 
spared,  no  solitary  oak  or  elm  with  its  grateful  shade  stood  in  the 
middle  of  the  field  or  in  the  hedge-row  ;  hedge-rows  there  were 
none.  The  pleasantness  of  the  prospect  had  been  everywhere  sac- 
rificed to  the  productiveness  of  the  field.  The  beautiful  English 

1  Wordsworth's  Works,  ii.  284.  5  Kames'  Sketches  of  the  History  of  Man,  i.  274. 

-   The  Traveller,  1.  125.  s  Boswell's  Johnson,  ii.  77.     The  superiority 

3  Wordsworth's  Works,  iv.  99.  of  the   gardeners  was  most  likely  due  to   the 

4  Scotland  and  Scotchmen  in  the  Eighteenth  superiority  of  the  education  of  the  poorer  classes. 
Century,  ii.  99.  '  lb.  ii.  78. 


POVERTY   OF    LANDSCAPE.  33 

landscape  was  gone.  "  The  striking  characteristic  in  the  views  of 
Scotland,"  said  an  observant  traveller,  "  is  a  poverty  of  landscape 
from  a  want  of  objects,  particularly  of  wood.  Park  scenery  is  little 
known.  The  lawn,  the  clump,  and  the  winding  walk  are  rarely 
found."  1  As  he  crossed  the  border  he  might  have  said  with  John- 
son :  "  It  is  only  seeing  a  worse  England.  It  is  seeing  the  flower 
gradually  fade  away  to  the  naked  stalk."  ;  "  Every  part  of  the 
country,"  wrote  Goldsmith  from  Edinburgh  in  his  student  days,  "  pre- 
sents the  same  dismal  landscape.  No  grove  nor  brook  lend  their 
music  to  cheer  the  stranger,  or  make  the  inhabitants  forget  their 
poverty."3  There  was  none  of  "  the  bloomy  flush  of  life."  The 
whole  country  was  open,  and  resembled  one  vast  common  with  a  few 
scattered  improvements.1  Along  the  western  road  from  Longworth 
to  Dumfries  it  exhibited  "a  picture  of  dreary  solitude,  of  smoky 
hovels,  naked,  ill-cultivated  fields,  lean  cattle  and  a  dejected  people, 
without  manufactures,  trade  or  shipping." 

The  eastern  coast,  along  which  Johnson  travelled,  was  singu- 
larly bare  of  trees.  He  had  not,  he  said,  passed  five  on  the  road 
fit  for  the  carpenter.6  The  first  forest  trees  of  full  growth  which  he 
saw  were  in  the  north  of  Aberdeenshire.7  "  This  is  a  day  of  novel- 
ties," he  said  on  the  morrow.  "  I  have  seen  old  trees  in  Scotland, 
and  I  have  heard  the  English  clergy  treated  with  disrespect."" 
Topham,  while  attacking  his  Journey  to  the  Western  Isles,  yet 
admitted  that  it  was  only  in  the  parks  of  a  few  noblemen  that  oaks 
were  found  fifty  years  old."  Lord  Jeffrey  maintained  so  late  as 
1833  that  within  a  circle  of  twenty  miles  from  Watford  there  was 
more  old  timber  than  in  all  Scotland.10  Burns,  in  his  Humble  Peti- 
tion of  Bruar  Water  to  the  Duke  of  A  thole,  testifies  to  the  want  of 

trees  :— 

"  Would  then  my  noble  master  please 

To  grant  my  highest  wishes, 
He'll  shade  my  banks  wi'  tow'ring  trees, 

And  bonnie  spreading  bushes." 

There  were,  of  course,  noble  trees  scattered  throughout  the  country. 
Gray  describes  "  the  four  chestnuts  of  vast  bulk  and  height  in  Lord 

1  W.    Gilpin's    Observations  relative    to  Pic-  s  Knox's  Tour  through  the  Highlands  of  Scot- 

turcsqtie  Reality  in  the  year  1776,  i.    117,   123,  /ami,  p.  5' 

141.  (;  Piozsi  Letters,  i.  120.          '    Works,  ix.  17. 

'  Bosweirs_/0//».««,  iii.  248.  *  Eosv/dl's  JtAnson,  v.  120. 

3  Forster's  LifeofGolJsmith,  i.  433.  ''  Letters  from  Edinburgh,  p.  230. 

4  Gentleman' s  Magazine,  1754,  p.  119.  '"  Cockburn's  Life  of  Lord  Jeffrey,  i.  348. 


34 


INTRODUCTION. 


Breadalbane's  park,"  '  and  Pennant,  "  the  venerable  oaks,  the  vast 
chestnuts,  the  ash  trees,  and  others  of  ancient  growth,  that  gave 
solemnity  to  the  scene  at  Finlarig  Castle."  :  A  love  of  planting, 
which  began  about  the  time  of  the  Union,  was  gradually  extending. 
Defoe  noticed  the  young  groves  round  the  gentlemen's  houses  in 
the  Lothians,  and  foretold,  that  in  a  few  years  Scotland  would  not 
need  to  send  to  Norway  for  timber  and  deal.3  The  reviewer  of 
Pennant's  Tour  in  the  Scots  Magazine  for  January,  1772,  rejoiced 
to  find  that  the  spirit  of  planting  was  so  generally  diffused,  and 
looked  forward  to  the  advantages  arising  from  it,  which  would  be 
enjoyed  by  posterity.4  Sir  Walter  Scott  defended  Johnson  against 
the  abuse  which  had  unjustly  been  cast  on  him.  The  east  coast,  if 
the  young  plantations  were  excepted,  was  as  destitute  of  wood  as 
he  had  described  it/'  Nay,  to  his  sarcasms  he  greatly  ascribed  that 
love  of  planting  which  had  almost  become  a  passion .''  It  was  not 
for  nothing,  then,  that  Johnson  had  joked  over  the  loss  of  his  walk- 
ing-stick in  Mull,  and  had  refused  to  believe  that  any  man  in  that 
island  who  had  got  it  would  part  with  it.  "  Consider,  Sir,  the  value 
of  such  a  piece  of  timber  there."  7 

The  modern  traveller  who,  as  he  passes  through  the  Lothians 
or  Aberdeenshire,  looks  with  admiration  on  farming  in  its  perfec- 
tion, would  learn  with  astonishment  how  backward  Scotch  agricul- 
ture was  little  more  than  one  hundred  years  ago.  While  in  Eng- 
land men  of  high  rank  and  strong  minds  were  ambitious  of  shining 
in  the  characters  of  farmers,  in  Scotland  it  was  looked  upon  as  a 
pursuit  far  beneath  the  attention  of  a  gentleman.  Neither  by  the 
learned  had  it  been  made  a  study.8  There  were  those  who  attri- 
buted this  general  backwardness  to  the  soil  and  climate  ;  but  it  was 
due,  said  Lord  Kames,  "  to  the  indolence  of  the  landholders,  the 
obstinate  indocility  of  the  peasantry,  and  the  stupid  attachment 
of  both  classes  to  ancient  habits  and  practices." 9  The  liberal  inter- 
course between  the  two  countries,  which  was  an  unexpected  result 
of  the  Rebellion  of  i  745,  greatly  quickened  the  rate  of  improve- 
ment. 

"  Before  that  time  the  people  of  Northumberland  and  the  Merse,  who  spoke 
dialects  of  the  same  language,  and  were  only  separated  by  a  river,  had  little  more 

1  Gray's  Works,  iv.  59.  •'  Croker's  Boswcll  (Svo.  ed.),  p.  285. 

2  Pennant's  Tour  in  Scotland,  ii.  21.  "  Croker's  Correspondence,  ii.  34. 

3  Defoe's   Tour  through   Great  Britain:  Ac-  7  Bos\ve\\'s  Johnson,  v.  319. 

anint  of  Scotland,  Hi.  15.  *  Topham's  Letters  from  Edinburgh,  p.  366. 

4  Scots  Afagazine,  1772,  p.  25.  "  Tytler's  Life  of  Lord  Kames,  i.  112. 


BACKWARDNESS   OF    FARMING.  35 

intercourse  than  those  of  Kent  and  Normandy.  After  the  Rebellion  a  number  of 
noblemen  and  gentlemen  amused  themselves  with  farming  in  the  English  style. 
The  late  Lord  Eglinton  spared  no  expense  in  getting  English  servants.  He  showed 
his  countrymen  what  might  be  done  by  high  cultivation.  Mr.  Drummond,  of  Blair, 
sent  over  one  of  his  ploughmen  to  learn  drill  husbandry,  and  the  culture  of  turnips 
from  Lord  Eglinton's  English  servants.  The  very  next  year  he  raised  a  field  of 
turnips,  which  were  the  first  in  the  country.  And  they  were  as  neatly  dressed  as  any 
in  Hertfordshire.  A  single  horse  ploughing  the  drills  astonished  the  country  people, 
who,  till  then,  had  never  seen  fewer  than  four  yoked.  About  the  year  1771  our 
tenants  were  well-disposed  to  the  culture  of  turnips.  They  begin  to  have  an  idea  of 
property  in  winter  as  well  as  in  summer  ;  nor  is  it  any  longer  thought  bad  neighbour- 
hood to  drive  off  cattle  that  are  trespassing  upon  their  winter  crops."  ' 

The  young  Laird  of  Col,  just  before  Johnson's  visit,  had  gone 
to  Hertfordshire  to  study  farming,  and  had  brought  back  "  the  cul- 
ture of  turnips.  His  intention  is  to  provide  food  for  his  cattle  in 
the  winter.  This  innovation  was  considered  by  Mr.  Macsweyn  as 
the  idle  project  of  a  young  head  heated  with  English  fancies  ;  but 
he  has  now  found  that  turnips  will  grow,  and  that  hungry  sheep  and 
cows  will  really  eat  them."  ;  Yet  progress  was  not  so  rapid  but 
that  Adam  Smith  held  that  a  better  system  could  only  be  intro- 
duced "  by  a  long  course  of  frugality  and  industry  ;  half  a  century 
or  a  century  more  perhaps  must  pass  away  before  the  old  system 
which  is  wearing  out  gradually  can  be  completely  abolished."  : 

The  cultivation  of  vegetables  for  the  table  and  of  fruits  was  also 
taking  a  start,  though  much  remained  to  be  done.  When  Johnson 
was  informed  at  Aberdeen  that  Cromwell's  soldiers  had  taught  the 
Scotch  to  raise  cabbages,  he  remarked,  that  "  in  the  passage  through 
villages  it  seems  to  him  that  surveys  their  gardens,  that  when  they 
had  not  cabbage  they  had  nothing."  '  Pennant,  however,  the  year 
before,  in  riding  from  Arbroath  to  Montrose,  had  passed  by  "  exten- 
sive fields  of  potatoes — a  novelty  till  within  the  last  twenty  years."5 
It  was  not  till  Johnson  had  travelled  beyond  Elgin  that  he  saw 
houses  with  fruit  trees  about  them.  "  The  improvements  of  the 
Scotch,"  he  remarks,  "  are  for  immediate  profit ;  they  do  not  yet 
think  it  quite  worth  their  while  to  plant  what  will  not  produce  some- 
thing to  be  eaten  or  sold  in  a  very  little  time." "  The  Scotch  his- 
torian of  Edinburgh  complained  that  "  the  apples  which  were 
brought  to  market  from  the  neighbourhood  were  unfit  for  the  table."  7 
"  Good  apples  are  not  to  be  seen,"  wrote  Topham  in  his  Letters 

1  Scotland  and  Scotchmen  of  the  Eighteenth  4  Pioxi  Letters,  i.  116. 

Century,  ii.  212,  227,  228,  231,  272,  277.  '   Pennant's  Tour  in  Scotland,  ii.  138. 

2  Johnson's  Works,  ix.  121.  6  Piozzi  Letters,  i.  121. 

3  Wealth  of  Nations,  i.  309.  7  Arnot's  History  of  Edinburgh,  p.  347. 


36  INTRODUCTION. 

from  Edinburgh.  "  It  was,"  he  said,  "  owing  to  the  little  variety  of 
fruit  that  the  inhabitants  set  anything  on  their  tables  after  dinner 
that  has  the  appearance  of  it,  and  I  have  often  observed  at  the 
houses  of  principal  people  a  plate  of  small  turnips  introduced  in  the 
dessert,  and  eaten  with  avidity."  '  Smollett  indirectly  alludes  to 
this  reflection  on  his  native  country  when,  in  his  Humphry  Clinker, 
he  says  that  "  turnips  make  their  appearance,  not  as  dessert,  but  by 
way  of  hors  d'ceuvrcs,  or  whets."  :  Even  in  the  present  day,  the 
English  traveller  far  too  often  looks  in  vain  for  the  orchards  and 
the  fruit  tree  with  its  branches  trained  over  the  house-wall.  Yet 
great  progress  has  been  made.  In  Morayshire,  in  the  present  clay, 
peaches  and  apricots  are  seen  ripening  on  the  garden  walls.  In  the 
year  1852  an  Elgin  gardener  carried  off  the  first  prize  of  the  London 
Horticultural  Society  for  ten  varieties  of  the  finest  new  dessert 
pears.3  If  Scotland  can  do  such  great  things  as  this,  surely  justifi- 
cation is  found  for  the  reproaches  cast  by  Johnson  on  Scottish 
ignorance  and  negligence. 

So  closely  have  the  two  countries  in  late  years  been  drawn 
together  by  the  wonderful  facilities  of  intercourse  afforded  by 
modern  inventions,  that  it  is  scarcely  possible  for  us  to  understand 
the  feelings  of  our  adventurous  forefathers  as  they  crossed  the 
Borders.  At  the  first  step  they  seemed  to  be  in  a  foreign  country. 
"  The  first  town  we  come  to,"  wrote  Defoe,  "  is  as  perfectly  Scots 
as  if  you  were  one  hundred  miles  north  of  Edinburgh  ;  nor  is  there 
the  least  appearance  of  anything  English  either  in  customs,  habits, 
usages  of  the  people,  or  in  their  way  of  living,  eating,  dress,  or 
behaviour." 4  "  The  English,"  Smollett  complained,  "  knew  as 
little  of  Scotland  as  of  Japan."5  There  is  no  reason  to  think  that 
he  was  guilty  of  extravagance,  when  in  his  Humphry  Clinker  he 
makes  Miss  Tabitha  Bramble,  the  sister  of  the  Gloucestershire 
squire,  imagine  that  "  she  could  not  go  to  Scotland  but  by  sea."  6 
It  is  amazing  to  how  late  a  day  ignorance  almost  as  gross  as  this 
came  down.  It  was  in  the  year  in  w.hich  George  II.  came  to  the 
throne  that  Defoe,  in  his  preface  to  his  Tour  through  Great  Britain 
wrote :— "  Scotland  has  been  supposed  by  some  to  be  so  contemptible 
a  place  as  that  it  would  not  bear  a  description."  7  Eleven  years 

1  Letters  from  Edinburgh,  p.  229.  ""  Humphry  Clinker,  ii.  212. 

2  Humphry  Clinker,  ii.  233.  °  Ib. 

3  E.  D.  Dunbar's  Social  Life,  ii.  147.  7  Defoe's  Tour  through  Great  Britain,  vol.  iii. 

4  Defoe's   Tour  through  Great  Britain  :  Ac-       p.  vii. 
count  of  Scotland,  vol.  iii.  p.  6. 


ENGLISH    IGNORANCK   OF   SCOTLAND.  37 

later,  in  1738,  we  find  it  described  much  as  if  it  were  some  lately 
discovered  island  in  the  South  Seas. 

"  The  people  in  general,"  we  read,  "  are  naturally  inclined  to  civility,  especially 
to  strangers.  They  are  divided  into  Highlanders  who  call  themselves  the  antient 
Scots,  and  into  Lowlanders  who  are  a  mixture  of  antient  Scots,  Picts,  Britons,  French, 
English,  Danes,  Germans,  Hungarians,  and  others.  Buchanan  describes  the 
customs  of  the  Highlanders  graphically  thus  : — '  In  their  diet,  apparel,  and  household 
furniture  they  follow  the  parsimony  of  the  antients  ;  they  provide  their  diet  by  fishing 
and  hunting,  and  boil  their  flesh  in  the  paunch  or  skin  of  a  beast ;  while  they  hunt 
they  eat  it  raw,  after  having  squeezed  out  the  blood.'  .  .  .  The  Western  Islands 
(the  author  goes  on  to  add)  lie  in  the  Deucaledonian  Sea.  .  .  .  The  natives  of  Mull 
when  the  season  is  moist  take  a  large  dose  of  aqua-vita;  for  a  corrective,  and  chew  a 
piece  of  channel  root  when  they  intend  to  be  merry  to  prevent  drunkenness.  The 
natives  of  Skye  have  a  peculiar  way  of  curing  the  distempers  they  are  incident  to  by 
simples  of  their  own  product,  in  which  they  are  successful  to  a  miracle."  ' 

Into  so  strange  and  wild  a  country  it  required  a  stout  heart  to 
enter.  A  volunteer  with  the  English  army  at  the  time  of  the 
Rebellion  of  1745  wrote  from  Berwick  : — "  Now  we  are  going  into 
Scotland,  but  with  heavy  hearts.  They  tell  us  here  what  terrible 
living  we  shall  have  there,  which  I  soon  after  found  too  true.": 
How  few  were  the  Englishmen  who  crossed  the  Tweed  even  so 
late  as  1772  is  shown  by  the  hope  expressed  in  the  Scots  Magazine 
for  that  year,  that  the  publication  of  Pennant's  Tour  would  excite 
others  to  follow  in  his  steps.3  Two  years  later  Topham  wrote 
from  Edinburgh  that  "  the  common  people  were  astonished  to  find 
himself  and  his  companion  become  stationary  in  their  town  for  a 
whole  winter.  .  .  .  '  What  were  we  come  for  ? '  was  the  first  question. 
'  They  presumed  to  study  physic.'  '  No.'  '  To  study  law  ? '  '  No.' 
'  Then  it  must  be  divinity.'  '  No.'  '  Very  odd,'  they  said,  '  that 
we  should  come  to  Edinburgh  without  one  of  these  reasons.'"4 
How  ignorant  the  English  were  of  Scotland  is  shown  by  the 
publication  of  Humphry  Clinker.  The  ordinary  reader,  as  he 
laughs  over  the  pages  of  this  most  humorous  of  stories,  never 
suspects  that  the  author  in  writing  it  had  any  political  object  in 
view.  Yet  there  is  not  a  little  truth  in  Horace  Walpole's  bitter 
assertion  that  it  is  "  a  party  novel,  written  by  the  profligate  hireling 
Smollett,  to  vindicate  the  Scots,  and  cry  down  juries." ;  It  was 
not  so  much  a  party  as  a  patriotic  novel.  Lord  Bute's  brief  tenure 

1  The  Present  Slate  of  Scotland,  pp.   39,  42,  3  Scots  Magazine,  1772,  p.  24. 
112,  114,  119.  4  Letters  from  Edinburgh,  p.  40. 

2  A  Journey  through  part  of  England  and  5  Memoirs  of  the   Reign  of  George  III.,  iv. 
Scotland    with    the    Army.     By   a    Volunteer.  328. 

^  53- 


VS  INTRODUCTION. 

of  ignoble  office  as  Prime  Minister  and  Kind's  Friend,  the  mischief 
which  he  had  done  to  the  whole  country,  and  the  favour  which  he 
had  shown  to  his  North  Britons,  a  few  years  earlier  had  raised  a 
storm  against  the  Scotch  which  had  not  yet  subsided.  "  All  the 
windows  of  all  the  inns  northwards,"  wrote  Smollett,  "are  scrawled 
with  doggrel  rhymes  in  abuse  of  the  Scotch  nation."  '  With  great  art 
he  takes  that  fine  old  humorist,  Matthew  Bramble,  from  his  squire's 
house  in  Gloucestershire  on  a  tour  to  the  southern  part  of  Scotland, 
and  makes  him  and  his  family  send  to  their  various  correspondents 
lively  and  pleasant  descriptions  of  all  that  they  saw.  At  the  very 
time  that  he  was  writing  his  Humphry  Clinker  a  child  was  born  in 
one  of  the  narrow  Wynds  of  Edinburgh  who  was  to  take  up  the 
work  which  he  had  begun,  and  as  the  mighty  Wizard  of  the  North, 
as  if  by  an  enchanter's  wand,  to  lift  up  the  mist  which  had  long 
hung  over  the  land  which  he  loved  so  well,  and  to  throw  over 
Highlands  and  Lowlands  alike  the  beauty  of  romance  and  the 
kindliness  of  feeling  which  springs  from  the  associations  given  by 
poetry  and  fiction. 

While  the  English  as  yet  knew  little  of  Scotland,  the  Scotch 
were  not  equally  ignorant  of  England.  From  the  days  of  the 
Union  they  had  pressed  southwards  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  of 
fame,  and  of  position.  Their  migration  was  such  that  it  afforded 
some  foundation  for  Johnson's  saying  that  "  the  noblest  prospect 
which  a  Scotchman  ever  sees  is  the  high  road  that  leads  him  to 
England."1  England  was  swiftly  moving  along  the  road  to 
Empire,  sometimes  with  silent  foot,  sometimes  with  the  tramp  of 
war.  In  America  and  in  the  East  Indies  her  boundaries  were 
year  by  year  pushed  farther  and  farther  on.  Her  agriculture,  her 
manufactures,  her  trade  and  her  commerce  were  advancing  by 
leaps  and  bounds.  There  was  a  great  stir  of  life  and  energy.  Into 
such  a  world  the  young  Scotchmen  entered  with  no  slight  advan- 
tages. In  their  common  schools  everywhere  an  education  was 
given  such  as  in  England  was  only  to  be  had  in  a  few  highly 
favoured  spots.  In  their  universities  even  the  neediest  scholar  had 
a  share.  The  hard  fare,  the  coarse  clothing,  and  the  poor  lodgings 
with  which  their  students  were  contented,  could  be  provided  by  the 
labours  of  the  vacation.  In  their  homes  they  had  been  trained  in 

Humphry  Clinker,  ii.  176.     See  my  edition       pp.  56-64,  for  tlie  violence  of  feeling  between 
of  Letters  of  David  Hume  to  William  Stra/ian,       the  English  and  Scotch  at  this  time. 

w,  i.  425. 


ADVANTAGES   OF  THE    UNION.  39 

habits  of  thrift.  They  entered  upon  the  widely  extending  battle 
of  life  like  highly  trained  soldiers,  and  they  gained  additional  force 
by  acting  together.  If  they  came  up  "  in  droves,"  it  was  not  one 
another  that  they  butted.  They  exhibited  when  in  a  strange  land 
that  "  national  combination  "  which  Johnson  found  "  so  invidious," 
but  which  brought  them  to  "  employment,  riches,  and  distinction."  ' 
Their  thrift,  and  an  eagerness  to  push  on  which  sometimes  amounted 
to  servility,  provoked  many  a  gibe  ;  but  if  ever  they  found  time 
and  inclination  to  turn  from  Johnny  Home  to  Shakespeare  they 
might  have  replied  in  the  words  of  Ferdinand  : 

"Some  kinds  of  baseness 
Are  nobly  undergone,  and  most  poor  matters 
Point  to  rich  ends." 

On  the  advantages  of  the  Union  to  Scotland  Johnson  was  not 
easily  tired  of  haranguing.  Of  the  advantages  to  England  he  said 
nothing  probably  because  he  saw  nothing.  Yet  it  would  not  be 
easy  to  tell  on  which  side  the  balance  lay.  Before  the  Union,  he 
maintained,  "  the  Scotch  had  hardly  any  trade,  any  money,  or  any 
elegance."  :  In  his  Journey  to  t/ic  Western  Islands  he  tells  the 
Scotch  that  "  they  must  be  for  ever  content  to  owe  to  the  English 
that  elegance  and  culture  which,  if  they  had  been  vigilant  and 
active,  perhaps  the  English  might  have  owed  to  them." 

Smollett,  who  in  national  prejudice  did  not  yield  even  to  him,  has 
strongly  upheld  the  opposite  opinion.  In  his  History\\t  describes 
Lord  Belhaven's  speech  against  the  Union  in  the  last  parliament 
which  sat  in  Scotland — a  speech  "  so  pathetic  that  it  drew  tears 
'  from  the  audience.  It  is,"  he  adds,  "at  this  day  looked  upon  as  a 
prophecy  by  great  part  of  the  Scottish  nation." '  The  towns  on 
the  Eirth  of  Eorth,  he  maintained,  through  the  loss  of  the  trade 
with  France,  had  been  falling  to  decay  ever  since  the  two  countries 
were  united.5  In  these  views  he  was  not  supported  by  the  two 
great  writers  who  were  his  countrymen  and  his  contemporaries. 
It  was  chiefly  to  the  Union  that  Adam  Smith  attributed  the  great 
improvements  in  agriculture  which  had  been  made  in  the  eighteenth 
century.6  It  was  to  the  Union  that  Hume  attributed  the  blessing 
"  of  a  government  perfectly  regular,  and  exempt  from  all  violence 
and  injustice." '  Many  years  later  Thomas  Carlyle,  in  whom 

1  Worts,  ix.  158.  "'  Humphry  Clinker,  iii.  7. 

*  Boswell's/^/wtfK,  v.  248.  u  Wealth  of  Nations,  \.  308. 

s  Works,  ix.  24.  ~  Hume's  History  of  England,  vii.  438. 

4  Smollett's  History  of  England,  ii.  99. 


40  INTRODUCTION. 

glowed  the  perfervidum  ingcnium  Scotorum  as  it  has  glowed  in 
few,  owned  that  "  the  Union  was  one  of  Scotland's  chief  blessings," 
though  it  was  due  to  Wallace  and  to  men  like  him  "that  it  was 
not  the  chief  curse." 

It  must  never  be  forgotten  that  in  this  Union  England  was  no 
less  blessed  than  Scotland  ;  that  if  she  gave  wealth  to  Scotland, 
Scotland  nobly  repaid  the  gift  in  men.  In  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries  the  English  stock  had  been  quickened  and 
strengthened  and  ennobled  by  fugitives  seeking  refuge  on  her 
shores  from  the  persecutions  of  priests  and  kings,  which  passed 
over  the  coward  and  the  base,  and  fell  only  on  the  brave  and  the 
upright.  To  the  Fleming  and  the  Huguenot  was  now  added  the 
Scot.  In  philosophy,  in  history,  in  law,  in  science,  in  poetry,  in 
romance,  in  the  arts  of  life,  in  trade,  in  government,  in  war,  in 
the  spread  of  our  dominions,  in  the  consolidation  of  our  Empire, 
glorious  has  been  the  part  which  Scotland  has  played.  Her  poet's 
prayer  has  been  answered,  and  in  "  bright  succession  "  have  been 
raised  men  to  adorn  and  guard  not  only  herself  but  the  country 
which  belongs  to  Englishmen  and  Scotchmen  alike.  Little  of  this 
was  seen,  still  less  foreseen  by  Johnson.  The  change  which  was 
going  on  in  Scotland  was  rapid  and  conspicuous ;  the  change  which 
she  was  working  outside  her  borders  was  slow,  and  as  yet  almost 
imperceptible.  What  was  seen  raised  not  admiration,  but  jealousy 
of  the  vigorous  race  which  was  everywhere  so  rapidly  "  making  its 
way  to  employment,  riches,  and  distinction."  That  Johnson  should 
exult  in  the  good  which  Scotland  had  derived  from  England  through 
the  Union  was  natural.  Scarcely  less  natural  that  he  should  point 
out  how  much  remained  to  be  done  before  the  Scotch  attained 
the  English  level,  not  only  in  the  comforts  and  refinements,  but 
even  in  the  decencies  of  life.  One  great  peculiarity  in  their  civili- 
zation struck  him  deeply.  "  They  had  attained  the  liberal  without 
the  manual  arts,  and  excelled  in  ornamental  knowledge  while  they 
wanted  the  conveniences  of  common  life."  :  Even  the  peasantry 
were  able  to  dispute  with  wonderful  sagacity  upon  the  articles  of 
their  faith,  though  they  were  content  to  live  in  huts  which  had  not 
a  single  chimney  to  carry  off  the  smoke.3  Wesley,  each  time  that 
he  crossed  the  Borders,  found  a  far  harder  task  awaiting  him  than 
when  he  was  upbraiding,  denouncing,  and  exhorting  an  English 

1  Past  and  Present  (ed.  1858),  p.  80.  *   Works,  ix.  23. 

3  Humphry  Clinker,  iii.  83. 


A    DISPUTATIOUS   PEASANTRY.  41 

congregation.  To  the  Scotch,  cradled  as  they  had  been  in  the 
Shorter  Catechism,  and  trained  as  they  were  from  their  youth  up 
in  theology,  his  preaching,  like  Paul's  to  the  Greeks,  was  too  often 
foolishness.  He  spoke  to  a  people,  as  he  complained,  "  who  heard 
much,  knew  everything,  and  felt  nothing."  '  Though  "  you  use 
the  most  cutting  words  still  they  hear,  but  feel  no  more  than  the 
seats  they  sit  upon."1  Nowhere  did  he  speak  more  roughly  than 
in  Scotland.  No  one  there  was  offended  at  plain  dealing.  "  In 
this  respect  they  were  a  pattern  to  all  mankind."  But  yet  "  they 
hear  and  hear,  and  are  just  what  they  were  before. ";  He  was 
fresh  from  the  Kelso  people  and  was  preaching  to  a  meeting  in 
Northumberland  when  he  wrote  :  "  Oh  !  what  a  difference  is  there 
between  these  living  stones,  and  the  dead  unfeeling  multitudes  in 
Scotland."1  "The  misfortune  of  a  Scotch  congregation,"  he  re- 
corded on  another  occasion,  "is  they  know  everything;  so  they 
learn  nothing."  5 

With  their  disputatious  learning  the  meagreness  of  their  fare  and 
the  squalor  of  their  dwellings  but  ill  contrasted.  "  Dirty  living," 
said  Smollett,  "  is  the  great  and  general  reproach  of  the  commonalty 
of  this  kingdom."  6  While  Scotland  sent  forth  into  the  world  year 
after  year  swarms  of  young  men  trained  in  thrift,  well  stored  with 
knowledge,  and  full  of  energy  and  determination,  the  common  people 
bore  an  ill-repute  for  industry.  They  were  underfed,  and  under-feed- 
ing produced  indolent  work.  "  Flesh-meat  they  seldom  or  never 
tasted  ;  nor  any  kind  of  strong  liquor  except  two-penny  at  times  of 
uncommon  festivity." 7  "  Ale,"  wrote  Lord  Kames,  "  makes  no 
part  of  the  maintenance  of  those  in  Scotland  who  live  by  the  sweat 
of  their  brow.  Water  is  their  only  drink."1  Adam  Smith  ad- 
mitted that  both  in  bodily  strength  and  personal  appearance  they 
were  below  the  English  standard.  "  They  neither  work  so  well, 
nor  look  so  well."9  Wolfe,  when  he  returned  to  England  from 
Scotland  in  1/53,  said  that  he  had  not  crossed  the  Border  a 
mile  when  he  saw  the  difference  that  was  produced  upon  the 
face  of  the  country  by  labour  and  industry.  "  The  English  are 
clean  and  laborious,  and  the  Scotch  excessively  dirty  and  lazy."1 

This  dirtiness  would  offend  an  Englishman  more  than  a  man  of 

1  Wesley \  Journal,  iv.  13.  '  ll>.  iii.  83. 

2  Ib.  p.  272.  3  Hi.  iv.  229.  ^   Raines's  Sketches  of  the  History  of  Man,  ii. 

4  /*.  ii.  412.  333. 

5  Ib.  iii.  179.  '     Wealth  of  Nations,  i.  222. 

'  Humphry  Clinker,  iii.  44.  10  Wright's  Life  of  Wolfe,  p.  276. 


42  INTRODUCTION. 

any  other  nation,  for  "  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  they  were 
remarkable  for  cleanness  all  the  world  over."  Matthew  Bramble, 
in  Smollett's  Humphry  ('.linker,  notices  the  same  change.  "The 
boors  of  Northumberland,"  he  wrote,  "  are  lusty  fellows,  fresh- 
complexioned,  cleanly  and  well-clothed  ;  but  the  labourers  in  Scot- 
land are  generally  lank,  lean,  hard-featured,  sallow,  soiled  and 
shabby.  The  cattle  are  much  in  the  same  style  with  their  drivers, 
meagre,  stunted,  and  ill-equipt."  '•  Topham,  in  his  Letters  from 
Edinburgh,  asserts  the  misery,  but  denies  the  idleness.  Tempe- 
rance and  labour  were,  he  says,  in  the  extreme  ;  nevertheless,  on  all 
sides  were  seen,  "  haggard  looks,  meagre  complexions,  and  bodies 
weakened  by  fatigue  and  worn  down  by  the  inclemency  of  the 
seasons."  Neither  were  the  poor  of  the  capital  any  better  off. 
Their  wretchedness  and  poverty  exceeded,  he  thought,  what  was  to 
be  found  anywhere  else  in  the  whole  world.  But  though  as  a 
nation  •  the  Scotch  were  very  poor,  yet  they  were  very  honest.3 
A  traveller  through  the  country  in  i  766  goes  so  far  as  to  maintain 
that  the  common  people  in  outward  appearance  would  not  at  first 
be  taken  to  be  of  the  human  species.  Though  their  indigence 
was  extreme,  yet  they  would  rather  sufier  poverty  than  labour. 
Their  nastiness  was  greater  than  could  be  reported.  Happily  their 
rudeness  was  beginning  to  wear  off,  and  in  the  trading  towns  where 
the  knowledge  of  the  use  of  money  was  making  them  eager  enough 
to  acquire  it,  they  were  already  pretty  well  civilized  and  indus- 
trious.1 Wages  were  miserably  low.  The  Scotch  labourer  received 
little  more  than  half  what  was  paid  to  the  Englishman;  yet  grain 
was  dearer  in  Scotland  than  in  England:"  The  historian  of 
Edinburgh  thus  sums  the  general  condition  of  the  labouring 
poor  :— 

"  The  common  people  have  no  ideas  of  the  comforts  of  life.  The  labourers 
and  low  mechanics  live  in  a  very  wretched  style.  Their  houses  are  the  receptacles 
of  nastiness,  where  the  sp'der  may  in  peace  weave  his  web  from  generation  to 
generation.  A  garden,  where  nothing  is  to  be  seen  but  a  few  plants  of  coleworts  or 
potatoes,  amidst  an  innumerable  quantity  of  weeds,  surrounds  his  house.  A  bit  of 
flesh  will  not  be  within  his  door  twice  a  year.  He  abhors  industry,  and  has  no 
relish  for  the  comforts  arising  from  it."  l 

Lord  Elibank's  famous  reply  to  Johnson's  definition  of  oats  had 

1  Kames's  Sketches  of  the  History  of  Man,  i.  ''   Wealth  of  Nations,  i.  100.     See  also  Arnot's 

265.  History  of  Edinburgh,  p.  557,  and  Knox's  'Jour, 

-  Humphry  Clinker,  ii.  213.  p.  cxviii. 

3  Letters  from  Edinburgh,  pp.  279,  361.  "  Arnot's   History  of  Edinburgh  (ed.    1779), 

1  Gentleman's  Magazine,  1766,  p.  209.  p.  353. 


POVERTY    OF   THK    COMMON    PEOPLE.  43 

every  merit  but  a  foundation  of  fact.  "Oats,"  wrote  Johnson,  "a 
strain  which  in  England  is  generally  given  to  horses,  but  in  Scot- 
land supports  the  people."  "  Very  true,"  replied  his  lordship, 
"  and  where  will  you  find  such  men  and  such  horses  ? "  ' 

The  natural  result  of  this  general  poverty  was  seen  in  the 
number  of  beggars  who  thronged  the  streets  and  roads.  Scotland 
was  neither  blessed  with  a  good  poor-law  nor  cursed  with  a  bad 
one.  The  relief  of  want  was  left  altogether  to  charity.  In  Edin- 
burgh Johnson  thought  that  the  proportion  of  beggars  was  not  less 
than  in  London.  "  In  the  smaller  places  it  was  far  greater  than  in 
English  towns  of  the  same  extent."  The  mendicants  were  not, 
however,  of  the  order  of  sturdy  vagabonds.  They  were  neither 
importunate  nor  clamorous.  "  They  solicit  silently,  or  very 
modestly." :  Smollett  went  so  far  as  to  maintain  in  his  Humphry 
Clinker,  which  was  published  only  two  years  before  Johnson's 
visit,  that  "  there  was  not  a  beggar  to  be  seen  within  the  precincts 
of  Edinburgh."  For  some  years,  indeed,  the  streets  had  been 
free  of  them,  for  a  charity  workhouse  had  been  erected,  to  which 
they  were  all  committed.  But  the  magistrates  had  grown  careless, 
and  the  evil  had  broken  out  afresh.  "  The  streets  are  crowded 
with  begging  poor,"  wrote  one  writer.  "  We  see  the  whole  stairs, 
streets,  and  public  walks  swarming  with  beggars  every  day,"  wrote 
another.4 

The  general  neglect  of  the  decencies  of  life  was  due  chiefly  to 
poverty,  but  partly,  no  doubt,  to  that  violent  outburst  against  all 
that  is  beautiful  and  graceful  which  accompanied  the  Reformation 
in  Scotland.  A  nation  which,  as  a  protest  against  popery, 
"  thought  dirt  and  cob-webs  essential  to  the  house  of  God,"  :'  was 
not  likely  in  their  homes  to  hold  that  cleanliness  was  next  to 
godliness.  The  same  coarseness  of  living  had  been  found  in  all 
classes,  though  it  was  beginning  to  yield  before  English  influence. 
Dr.  Alexander  Carlyle,  in  the  year  1 742,  notices  as  a  sign  of 
increasing  refinement,  that  at  the  tavern  in  Haddington,  where  the 
Presbytery  dined,  knives  and  forks  were  provided  for  the  table. 
A  few  years  earlier  each  guest  had  brought  his  own.  There  was, 
however,  only  one  glass,  which  went  round  with  the  bottle."  The 
same  custom  had  prevailed  in  Edinburgh  when  Lord  Kames  was 

1  Boswell's  Johnson,  i.  294,  »/.  8.  '  Seals  Magazine,    1772,   p.   636,    and   1773, 

2  Johnson's  Works,  ix.  9.  p.  399-  '  H"»'pl"y  Clinker,  iii.  5. 
'  Humphry  Clinker  (ed.  1792),  iii.  5.                          u  t)i-.  Alexander  Carlyle's  Autobiography,  p.  64. 


44  INTRODUCTION. 

;i  young  man.  French  wine  was  placed  on  the  table,  he  said,  in  a 
small  tin  vessel,  which  held  about  an  Knglish  pint.  A  single 
drinking-glass  served  a  company  the  whole  evening,  and  the  first 
persons  who  called  for  a  new  glass  with  every  new  pint  were 
accused  of  luxury.1  Bos  well  could  remember  the  time  when  a 
carving  knife  was  looked  upon  as  a  novelty.  One  of  his  friends 
was  rated  by  his  father,  "  a  gentleman  of  ancient  family  and  good 
literature,  for  introducing  such  a  foppish  superfluity."  In  the 
previous  generation  whatever  food  was  eaten  with  a  spoon,  such  as 
soup,  milk,  or  pudding,  used  to  be  taken  by  every  person  dipping 
his  spoon  into  the  common  dish.2  When  an  old  laird  was  com- 
plimented on  the  accomplishments  which  his  son  had  brought 
home  from  his  travels,  "  he  answered  that  he  knew  nothing  he  had 
learnt  but  to  cast  a  sark  (change  a  shirt)  every  day,  and  to  sup  his 
kail  twice. ":  Of  the  food  that  was  served  up,  there  was  not  much 
greater  variety  than  of  the  dishes  in  which  it  was  served.  When 
Wesley  first  visited  Scotland,  even  at  a  nobleman's  table,  he  had 
only  one  kind  of  meat,  and  no  vegetables  whatever.  By  the  year 
1788,  however,  vegetables  were,  he  recorded,  as  plentiful  as  in 
England.4  The  butter  in  these  early  days  made  in  country  houses, 
"  would  have  turned  stomachs  the  least  squeamish."  But  by  the 
introduction  of  tea  a  great  improvement  had  been  made.  Bread 
and  butter  was  taken  with  it,  and  a  demand  arose  for  butter  that 
was  sweet  and  clean.  Wheaten  bread,  too,  began  to  be  generally 
eaten.  So  great  a  delicacy  had  it  been,  that  the  sixpenny  loaf  and 
the  sugar  used  to  be  kept  "locked  up  in  the  lady's  press."'5  In 
the  Highlands,  at  all  events,  there  was  a  great  variety  as  well  as 
abundance  of  food.  The  following  was  the  breakfast  which  in 
Argyleshire  was  set  before  the  travellers  in  Humphry  Clinker:— 

"  One  kit  of  boiled  eggs ;  a  second  full  of  butter ;  .1  third  full  of  cream ;  an 
entire  cheese  made  of  goat's  milk  ;  a  large  earthen  pot  full  of  honey ;  the  best  part 
of  a  ham  ;  a  cold  venison  pasty ;  a  bushel  of  oatmeal  made  in  thin  cakes  and 
bannocks,  with  a  small  wheaten  loaf  in  the  middle  for  the  strangers ;  a  large  stone 
bottle  full  of  whisky,  another  of  brandy,  and  a  kilderkin  of  ale.  There  was  a  ladle 
chained  to  the  cream  kit,  with  curious  wooden  bickers  to  be  filled  from  this 

1  Kames's  Sketches  of  the  History  of  Man  (eel.  mode  of  eating  came  down  nearly  lo  the  date  of 
1807),  i.  507.  Johnson's  visit,  even  in  the  houses  of  gentlemen. 

2  London  Magazine  for  1778,  p.  198.  In   the  houses  of  "the  substantial   tenants"  it 

3  Scotland  and  Scotsmen    in    the    Eighteenth  continued  till  much  later  (il>.  p.  64). 
Century,  ii.  64.    George  Drummond  of  Blair,  of          4  Wesley'syiwwa/,  iv.  418. 

whom  this  story  is  told,  did  not  succeed  to  his  '"  Scotland  and  Scotsmen  in   the    Eighteenth 

estate  till   1739  (ib.  p.    112),   so  that  this   rude       Century,  ii.  70,  71,  251. 


HOUSKS    AND    MKAI.S.  .^ 

reservoir.  The  spirits  were  drunk  out  oi  -,\  silver  qualf,  and  ilie  ale  unt  ol  horns. 
Finally  a  large  roll  of  tobacco  was  presented  by  way  of  desert,  and  every  individual 
took  a  comfortable  quid,  lo  prevent  the  bad  effects  of  the  morning  air."  ' 

Knox,  in  his  Tour  through  t/ic  Highlands?  gives  u  still  vaster 
bill  of  fare.  The  houses  of  the  country  gentlemen  were  lor  the 
most  part  small.  "  It  was  only  on  festivals  or  upon  ceremonious 
occasions,  that  the  dining-room  was  used.  1'eople  lived  mostly  in 
the  family  bed-chamber,  where  friends  and  neighbours  were 
received  without  scruple.  Many  an  easy,  comfortable  meal," 
writes  Ramsay,  of  Ochtertyre,  "had  1  made  in  that  way.":  It 
was  to  this  custom  that  the  Scotch  had  of  turning  a  bed-room  into 
an  eating- room  that  an  English  traveller  refers,  when  he  says  that 
the  Edinburgh  taverns  are  the  worst  in  the  world,  for  "you  sup 
underground  in  a  bed-chamber."  '  Even  at  the  modern  houses 
there  was  generally  a  total  absence  of  an  accommodation  such  as 
would  not  at  the  present  day  be  tolerated  in  a  labourer's  cottage 
by  a  sanitary  inspector  in  any  district  in  England." 

The  state  of  the  capital  was  far  worse  even  than  the  state  of 
the  country.  It  was  one  of  the  last  places  in  the  world  on  which 
would  have  been  bestowed  that  favourite  and  almost  exalted 
epithet  of  praise — ncal*  The  houses,  indeed,  were  solidly  built, 
and  the  rooms  of  the  well-to-do  people  were  comfortable  and  clean, 
and  often  spacious.  "  Nothing  could  form  a  stronger  contrast  than 
the  difference  between  the  outside  and  the  inside  of  the  door." 
Within  all  was  decency  and  propriety,  without  was  a  filthy  stair 
case  leading  down  into  a  filthy  street,  livery  story  was  a  com- 
plete house,  occupied  by  a  separate  family.  The  steep  and  dark 
staircase  was  common  to  all,  and  was  kept  clean  by  none.  It  was 
put  to  the  basest  uses.7  The  gentry  did  not  commonly  occupy  the 
lowest  stories  or  the  highest.  The  following  is  the  list  of  the 
inhabitants  of  a  good  house  in  the  High  Street  :— 

"  First  door  upstairs,  Mr.  Stirling,  fishmonger. 

"Second  door,  Mrs.  Urquhart,  who  kept  a  lodging-house  of  good  repute. 

"  Third  flat,  the  Dowager  Countess  of  Balcarras. 

"Fourth  flat,  Mrs.  Uudian,  of  Kelly. 

'   Humphry  Clinker,  iii.  28.  (he  Ilebriiles  where  the  same  ilrliciency  is  Mill 

*  Knox's  7'our,  p.  199.  round. 

'  Scotland  ami  Scotsmen    in   //if    F.ii'Jileenl/i  "  (jray  calls  (Jcneva  "  neal,"  iiiul  lli«:  repast 

Centuiy,  ii.  65.  which  was  set  Ix-fore  him  al  the  "(iranile  (.'liar- 

'  Cent/email's  Mnga:int  for  1771,  p.  543.  Ireiise"   "extremely  neat."     'iray's  Works,  e<l. 

5  BosweH's/0AHrt>«,  v.  172.    There  are  inns  in  1858,  ii.  62,  63. 

7  Humphry  Clinker,  ii.  221,  anil  Arnot's  Hillary  of  Edinburgh,  p.  241. 


46  INTRODUCTION. 

"  Fifth  llat,  tlie  Misses  Elliots,  milliners. 

"Garrets,  a  great  variety  of  tailors  and  other  tradesmen."  ' 

There  were  no  water  pipes,  there  were  no  drain  pipes,  there 
were  no  cess-pools,  and  there  were  no  covered  sewers  in  the  streets. 
At  a  fixed  hour  of  the  night  all  the  impurities  were  carried  down 
the  common  staircase  in  tubs,  and  emptied  into  the  street  as  into  a 
common  sewer,  or  else,  in  defiance  of  the  law,  cast  out  of  the 
window.  "  Throwing  over  the  window"  was  the  delicate  phrase  in 
which  this  vile  practice  was  veiled.  It  was  "  an  obstinate  disease 
which  had  withstood  all  the  labour  of  the  Magistrates,  Acts  of  Council, 
Dean  of  Guild  Courts  for  stencheling,2  tirlesing/1  and  locking  up 
windows,  fines,  imprisonments,  and  banishing  the  city."4  The 
servants  were  willing  to  serve  for  lower  wages  in  houses  where  this 
practice  was  winked  at.  It  gave  rise  to  numerous  quarrels  which 
caused  constables  more  trouble  than  any  other  part  of  their  duty.5 
According  to  the  account  given  by  the  English  maid  in  H^t,mpllry 
Clinker,  when  "  the  throwing  over  "  began,  "  they  called  gardy  loo 
to  the  passengers,  which  signifies  Lord  have  mercy  upon  you."  "  A 
young  English  traveller,  who,  the  first  night  of  his  arrival  in  Edin- 
burgh, was  enjoying  his  supper,  as  he  tells  us,  and  good  bottle  of 
claret  with  a  merry  company  in  a  tavern,  heard,  as  the  clock  was 
striking  ten,  the  beat  of  the  city  drum,  the  signal  for  the  scavenging 
to  begin.  The  company  at  once  began  to  fumigate  the  room  by 
lighting  pieces  of  paper  and  throwingthem  on  the  table.  Tobacco 
smoking,  it  is  clear,  could  not  have  been  in  fashion.  As  his  way  to 
his  lodgings  lay  through  one  of  the  wyncls  he  was  provided  "  with 
a  guide  who  went  before  him,  crying  out  all  the  way,  Hud  your 
Hinindc."  '  The  city  scavengers  cleansed  the  streets  as  fast  as  they 
could,  and  by  opening  reservoirs  which  were  placed  at  intervals 
washed  the  pavement  clean.8 

To  this  intolerable  nuisance  the  inhabitants  generally  seemed 

1  Keekiana,    by    Robert    Chambers,    p.    227  :  '    The  Ci/y  Cleaned  and  Country  Jmproven, 

"  The  house  was  situated  at  the  head  of  Dick-  pp.  6,  8. 

son's  Close,  a  few  doors  below  Niddry  Street."  "  Humphry  Clinker,  ii.  227.      Garily  loo  is  a 

I  have  found  all  these  names,  except  Stirling's,  corruption  of  gardes  I'eau,  a  cry  which,  like  so 

in  the  recent  interesting  reprint  of  the  Edinburgh  many  other  Scotch  customs  and   words,   bears 

Directory    for    I773~4>    published    by    William  witness  to  the   close  connection  which   of  old 

Brown,  Edinburgh,  1889.  existed  between  Scotland  and  France. 

•  "  Stenchel.     An  iron   bar  for  a  window."  ~  Hurt's   Letters  from   a    Gentleman,    etc.,    \, 

Jnmieson's  Scottish  Dictionary.  21. 

3  Tirlesing  is  not  given  by  Jamieson.  *  Topham's     Letters    from     Edinburgh,     p. 

4  The  City  Cleaned  and  Country  Impre/ven,  152. 
Edinburgh,  1760,  p.  5. 


THE    SCAVENGING   OE    EDINBURGH.  47 

insensible,  and  were  too  apt  to  imagine  the  disgust  of  strangers  as 
little  better  than  affectation.1  Yet  it  was  not  affectation  which  led 
John  Wesley,  in  May,  1761,  to  make  the  following  entry  in  his 
Journal  :— 

"  The  situation  of  the  city  on  a  hill  shelving  down  on  both  sides,  as  well  as  to  the 
east,  with  the  stately  castle  upon  a  craggy  rock  on  the  west,  is  inexpressibly  fine. 
And  the  main  street  so  broad  and  finely  paved,  with  the  lofty  houses  on  either  hand 
(many  of  them  seven  or  eight  stories  high)  is  far  beyond  any  in  Great  Britain.  But 
how  can  it  be  suffered  that  all  manner  of  filth  should  still  be  thrown,  even  into  this 
street,  continually  ?  Where  are  the  Magistracy,  the  Gentry,  the  Nobility  of  the  Land  ? 
Have  they  no  concern  for  the  honour  of  their  nation  ?  How  long  shall  the 
capital  city  of  Scotland,  yea  and  the  chief  street  of  ii,  stink  worse  than  a  common 
sewer  ?  " 

Ten  years  earlier  he  had  described  the  town  as  dirtier  even 
than  Cologne.  According  to  Wolfe,  it  was  not  till  after  Christmas, 
when  the  company  had  come  into  it  from  the  country,  that  it  was 
"in  all  its  perfection  of  dirt  and  gaiety."  :  Gray  called  it  "that 
most  picturesque  (at  a  distance)  and  nastiest  (when  near)  of  all 
capital  cities."  "Pray  for  me  till  I  see  you,"  he  added,  "for 
I  dread  Edinburgh  and  the  — ."  5  To  add  to  the  insalubrity,  the 
windows  would  not  readily  open.  In  Scotland  they  neither  opened 
wide  on  hinges,  nor  were  drawn  up  and  down  by  weights  and 
pulleys.  For  the  most  part  the  lower  sash  only  could  be  raised  ;  and 
when  lifted,  it  was  propped  open  by  a  stick  or  by  a  pin  thrust  into 
a  hole.6  "  What  cannot  be  done  without  some  uncommon  trouble 
or  particular  expedient  will  not  often  be  done  at  all.  The  incom- 
modiousness  of  the  Scotch  windows  keeps  them  very  closely  shut."  "' 
From  this  closeness  Johnson  suffered  not  a  little,  for  he  loved  fresh 
air,  "  and  on  the  coldest  day  or  night  would  set  open  a  window  and 
stand  before  it,"  as  Boswell  knew  to  his  cost.8  Topham,  who  sided 
with  his  Scotch  friends  against  Johnson,  scoffed  at  these  obser- 
vations on  window-frames  and  pulleys.  "  Men  of  the  world," 
he  wrote,  "  would  not  have  descended  to  such  remarks.  A  petty 
and  frivolous  detail  of  trifling  circumstances  are  [sic]  the  certain 
signs  of  ignorance  or  inexperience."  Johnson,  in  introducing  the 
subject,  had  guarded  himself  against  such  reflections.  "  These 
diminutive  observations,"  he  said,  "  seem  to  take  away  something 

'  Humphry  Clinker,  ii.  221.  "  This  arrangement  is  still  not  uncommon  in 

3  Wesley's  _/<«//v/a/,  iii.  54.  country  places. 

3  Wright's  Life  of  General  Wolfe,  p.  137.  7  Johnson's  Works,  ix.  18. 

4  Gray's  Works,  iv.  52.  "  Boswell's  _/»/;««>«,  v.  306. 

5  //'.  p.  61.  "  Letters  from  Edinburgh,  p.  141. 


4S  INTRODUCTION. 

from  the  dignity  of  writing.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
true  state  of  every  nation  is  the  state  of  common  life."  '  This 
indifference  to  pure  air  no  doubt  spread  death  far  and  wide.  In 
Sir  Walter  Scott's  family  we  see  an  instance  of  the  unwholesomeness 
of  the  Old  Town.  His  six  elder  brothers  and  sisters,  who  were  all 
born  in  the  College  Wynd,  died  young.  It  was  only  by  sending 
him  to  breathe  country  air  that  he  was  reared.  His  father's  younger 
children  were  born  in  one  of  the  new  squares,  and  they  for  the  most 
part  were  healthy." 

From  one  burthen  that  weighed  heavily  in  England  the  guests 
in  most  houses  in  Scotland  were  free.  It  was  the  Scotch,  who,  as 
Boswell  boasted,  "  had  the  honour  of  being  the  first  to  abolish  the 
unhospitable,  troublesome,  and  ungracious  custom  of  giving  vails  to 
servants.  'Sir,'  said  Johnson,  'you  abolished  vails,  because  you 
were  too  poor  to  be  able  to  give  them.'1  How  heavily  they 
weighed  on  all  but  the  rich  is  shown  by  an  anecdote  that  I  have  read 
somewhere  of  a  poor  gentleman,  who  refused  to  dine  with  his  kins- 
man, a  nobleman  of  high  rank,  unless  with  the  invitation  a  guinea 
were  sent  him  to  distribute  among  the  expectant  servants,  who, 
with  outstretched  hands,  always  thronged  the  hall  and  blocked  up 
the  doorway  as  he  left.  "  I  paid  ten  shillings  to  my  host's  servants 
for  my  dinner  and  retired,"  is  the  record  of  a  man  who  had  received 
the  honour  of  an  invitation  to  the  house  of  an  English  nobleman  of 
high  rank. '  Even  Queen  Caroline  had  complained  of  "  the  pretty 
large  expense  "  to  which  she  had  been  put  in  the  summer  of  1735 
in  visiting  her  friends,  not  at  their  country  houses,  but  in  town. 
"  That  is  your  own  fault  (said  the  King),  for  my  father,  when 
he  went  to  people's  houses  in  town,  never  was  fool  enough  to 
be  giving  away  his  money."5  It  was  to  the  gentlemen  of  the 
county  of  Aberdeen  that  was  due  the  merit  of  beginning  this 
great  reformation.  About  the  year  1759  they  resolved  at  a 
public  meeting  that  vails  should  be  abolished  and  wages  in- 
creased.6 Early  in  February,  1760,  the  Select  Society  of  Edin- 
burgh, following  their  lead,  passed  a  resolution  to  which  their 
President,  the  historian  Robertson,  seems  to  have  lent  the  graces  of 
his  style.  They  declared  that  "  this  custom,  being  unknown  to 

'    Works,  ix.  1 8.  4  Thicknesse's    Observations   on    the    Customs 

'*  Lockhart's  Life  of  Scott,  i.  108.  and  Manners  of  the  French,  1766,  p.  106. 

3  Boswell's  Johnson,  ii.  78.     Sheridan,  in  his  5  Lord  Ilervey's  Memoiis,  ii.  50. 

Life  of  Swift,  records   an   earlier   abolition   of  B  Aniot's  History  of  Edinburgh,  p.  376. 

vails  in  Ireland  (Swift's  Works,  ii.  108). 


ABOLITION    OF  VAILS.  49 

other  nations  and  a  reproach  upon  the  manners  and  police  of  this 
country,  has  a  manifest  tendency  to  corrupt  the  hospitality  and 
to  destroy  all  intercourse  between  families.  They  resolved  that 
from  and  after  the  term  of  Whitsuntide  next  every  member  of  the 
Society  would  absolutely  prohibit  his  own  servants  to  take  vails  or 
drink-money,  and  that  he  would  not  offer  it  to  the  servants  of  any 
person  who  had  agreed  to  this  resolution."  Like  resolutions 
followed  from  the  Faculty  of  Advocates,  the  Society  of  Clerks 
to  His  Majesty's  Signet,  the  Heritors  of  Mid-Lothian  headed 
by  the  Earl  of  Lauderdale,  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Freemasons,  headed 
by  the  Earl  of  Leven,  and  the  Honourable  Company  of  Scots 
Hunters  headed  by  the  President,  the  Earl  of  Errol.3  The  same 
good  change  was  attempted  a  few  years  later  in  England,  but 
apparently  without  success.  The  footmen,  night  after  night,  raised 
a  riot  at  Ranelagh  Gardens,  and  mobbed  and  ill-treated  some 
gentlemen  who  had  been  active  in  the  attempt.  "  There  was 
fighting  with  drawn  swords  for  some  hours  ;  they  broke  one  chariot 
all  to  pieces.  The  ladies  go  into  fits,  scream,  run  into  the  gardens, 
and  do  everything  that  is  ridiculous  " 

That  "  felicity"  which  England  had  in  its  taverns  and  inns  was 
not  equally  enjoyed  in  Scotland.  Certainly  it  was  not  in  Edin- 
burgh that  was  to  be  found  "  that  throne  of  human  felicity  a  tavern 
chair."  4  Yet  in  the  Lowlands  generally  the  fare  in  the  inns  was 
good  and  the  accommodation  clean.  Along  both  the  eastern  and 
the  western  roads  John  Wesley  was  well  pleased  with  the  entertain- 
ment with  which  he  met.  "  We  had  all  things  good,  cheap,  in  great 
abundance,  and  remarkably  well  dressed."'  In  the  Gentleman s 
Magazine  for  December,  1771,  a  curious  list  is  given  of  the  inns 
and  innkeepers  in  Scotland.  According  to  this  account  the  fare 
generally  was  good,  while  everywhere  was  found  "  excellent  clean 
linen  both  for  bed  and  board."  The  traveller  did  well,  however, 
who  had  his  sheets  toasted  and  his  bed  warmed,  for  the  natives, 
used  as  they  were  to  sleeping  in  their  wet  plaids,  were  careless 
about  a  damp  bed.  Goldsmith,  on  the  other  hand,  spoke  as  ill  of 
the  Scotch  inns  as  he  did  of  the  Scotch  landscape.  In  them,  he 

1  Edinburgh  Chronicle  for  1760,  p.  495.  a  Walpole's  Memoirs  of  1  lie  Keignof.Ueorge  III., 

''  Jl>.    pp.    503,    518,    583,    623.     The    Scots  ii.  3,  and  Letters  of  the  First  Earl  of  Malnus- 

Hunters  were,  I  suppose,  the  same  as  the  Royal  luuy,  \    108-9. 

Hunters— a  body  of  gentlemen  vohmteeis  who  4  Boswell's  Johnson,  ii.  452. 

were  raised  at  the  time  of  the  Rebellion  of  1745,  •"'  Wesley's  /ournal,  i1.  22S,  285 

am!  served  under  General  Oglcthorpe. 

H 


50  INTRODUCTION. 

says,  "vile  entertainment  is  served  up,  complained  of,  and  sent 
down  ;  up  comes  worse,  and  that  also  is  changed,  and  every  change 
makes  our  wretched  cheer  more  unsavoury." '  The  scantiness  of 
his  purse,  however,  would  have  made  him  resort  to  the  humblest 
houses,  and  probably  his  experience  did  not  extend  much  outside 
of  Edinburgh.  Of  the  inns  of  that  city,  no  one,  whether  native  or 
stranger,  had  a  good  word  to  say.  The  accommodation  that  was 
provided,  writes  the  historian  of  Edinburgh,  "was  little  better  than 
that  of  a  waggoner  or  a  carrier." !i  "  The  inns  are  mean  buildings," 
he  continues,  "  their  apartments  dirty  and  dismal ;  and  if  the  waiters 
happen  to  be  out  of  the  way,  a  stranger  will  perhaps  be  shocked 
with  the  novelty  of  being  shown  into  a  room  by  a  dirty  sun-burnt 
wench  without  shoes  or  stockings.  If  he  should  desire  furnished 
lodgings,  he  is  probably  conducted  to  the  third  or  fourth  floor,  up 
dark  and  dirty  stairs,  and  there  shown  into  apartments  meanly 
fitted  up.  The  taverns  in  general  are  dirty  and  dismal  as  the  inns  ; 
an  idle  profusion  of  victuals,  collected  without  taste,  and  dressed 
without  skill  or  cleanliness,  is  commonly  served  up.  There  are, 
however,  exceptions,  and  a  Scots  tavern,  if  a  good  one,  is  the  best 
of  all  taverns."  :  Smollett,  willing  as  he  was  to  see  the  good  side 
of  everything  in  Scotland,  yet  represents  the  inn  in  Edinburgh  at 
which  Matthew  Bramble  alighted  as  being  "  so  filthy  and  so  dis- 
agreeable in  every  respect,  that  the  old  man  began  to  fret." 4 
Perhaps  it  was  the  same  house  which  is  described  by  Topham  in 
the  following  lively  passage  in  his  Letters  :  ° 

"Nov.  15,  1774.  There  is  no  inn  that  is  better  than  an  alehouse,  nor  any 
accommodation  that  is  decent  or  cleanly.  On  my  first  arrival  my  companion  and 
myself,  after  the  fatigue  of  a  long  day's  journey,  were  landed  at  one  of  these  stable- 
keepers  (for  they  have  modesty  enough  to  give  themselves  no  higher  denomination) 
in  a  part  of  the  town  called  the  Pleasance.6  We  were  conducted  by  a  poor  devil  of 
a  girl,  without  shoes  or  stockings,  and  only  a  single  linsey-wolsey  petticoat,  which 
just  reached  half-way  to  her  ankles,  into  a  room  where  about  twenty  Scotch  drovers 
had  been  regaling  themselves  with  whiskey  and  potatoes.  You  may  guess  our 
amazement  when  we  were  informed  that  this  was  the  best  inn  in  the  metropolis, 
that  we  could  have  no  beds,  unless  we  had  an  inclination  to  sleep  together,  and 
in  the  same  room  with  the  company  which  a  stage-coach  had  that  moment  dis- 
charged." 

In  the  Edinb^^rgk  Directory  for   1773-4,  among  the  different 

1  Present  State  of  Polite  Learning,  ch.  xii.  *  Letters  from  Edinburgh,  p.  1 8. 

a  Arnot's  History  of  Edinburgh,  p.  658.  °  "The  Pleasance  consists  of  one  mean  street; 

J  Ib.  pp.  352-4.  through  it  lies  the  principal  road  to  London.  "- 

1  Humphry  Clinker,  ii.  214.  Arnot's  History  of  Edinburgh,  p.  328. 


I 


EDINBURGH   STABLERS.  5r 

trades,  there  is  no  entry  under  the  heading  of  inn-keepers.  There 
are  vintners,  who,  I  suppose,  were  also  tavern-keepers,  and  stablers, 
who  kept  the  inns.  It  was  to  this  curious  appellation  that  Topham 
referred  when  he  said  that  the  inn-keepers  had  the  modesty  to  call 
themselves  stable-keepers. 

A  few  years  after  Johnson's  visit  a  good  hotel  was  at  last 
opened  in  the  New  Town.  The  accommodation  was  elegant,  but 
the  charges  extravagant.1  The  French  traveller,  Saint  Fond,  who 
stayed  in  it  about  the  year  1 780,  said  that  the  house  was  magni- 
ficent and  adorned  with  columns,  as  his  bill  was  with  flourishes  and 
vignettes.  Half  a  sheet  of  note-paper  was  charged  threepence, 
with  sixpence  added  for  the  trouble  of  fetching  it.  He  paid  twice 
as  much  for  everything  as  in  the  best  inn  on  the  road  from  London. 
In  all  his  journeyings  through  England  and  Scotland  he  was  only 
twice  charged  exorbitantly — at  Dunn's  Hotel  in  Edinburgh,  and  at 
the  Bull's  Head  in  Manchester.2 

Johnson,  coming  from  Berwick  by  the  coast-road,  entered 
Edinburgh  by  the  Canongate.  It  was  on  a  dusky  night  in  August 
that,  arm  in  arm  with  Boswell,  he  walked  up  the  High  Street. 
"  Its  breadth  and  the  loftiness  of  the  buildings  on  each  side  made," 
he  acknowledged,  "  a  noble  appearance."'  In  the  light  of  the  day 
he  does  not  seem  to  have  been  equally  impressed.  "  Most  of  the 
buildings  are  very  mean,"  he  wrote  to  Mrs.  Thrale  ;  "  and  the  whole 
town  bears  some  resemblance  to  the  old  part  of  Birmingham."  In 
his  Letters  he  does  not  touch  on  that  appearance  so  unusual  to 
Englishmen  which,  as  we  learn  from  his  narrative,  generally  struck 
him  in  the  ancient  towns  of  Scotland.5  Wesley's  attention  was 
caught  by  this  same  "  peculiar  oddness  "  and  "  air  of  antiquity." 
They  were  like  no  places  that  he  had  ever  seen  in  England,  Wales, 
or  Ireland."  It  was  not,  however,  to  Birmingham  that  that  great 
traveller  likened  the  famous  High  Street.  There  was  nothing,  he 
said,  that  could  compare  with  it  in  Great  Britain.  Defoe's  admira- 
tion had  risen  still  higher.  In  his  eyes  it  ranked  as  almost  the 
largest,  longest,  and  finest  street  in  the  world.  Its  solidity  of  stone 
he  contrasted  with  the  slightness  of  the  houses  in  the  South.  Lofty 
though  the  buildings  were,  placed,  too,  on  "  the  narrow  ridge  of  a 
long  ascending  mountain,"  with  storms  often  raging  round  them, 

1  Arnot's  History  of  Edinburgh,  p.  353.  4  Pioszi  Letters,  i.  109. 

*  Voyage  en  Angleterre,  etc.,  i.  200,  229,  ii.  309.  5    Works,  ix.  18. 

3  Boswell's /!>/;»«>«,  v.  23.  '  Wesley's  Journal,  ii.  228. 


52  INTRODUCTION. 

"  there  was  no  blowing  oi  tiles  about  the  streets  to  knock  people  on 
the  heads  as  they  passed  ;  no  stacks  of  chimneys  and  gable-ends  of 
houses  falling  in  to  bury  the  inhabitants  in  their  ruins,  as  was  often 
found  in  London  and  other  of  our  paper-built  cities  in  England."  ' 
"  The  High  Street  is  the  stateliest  street  in  the  world,"  said  another 
writer  ;  "  being  broad  enough  for  five  coaches  to  drive  up  a-breast, 
while  the  houses  are  proportionately  high." :    According  to  Topham 
it  surpassed  "  the  famous  street  in  Lisle,  La  Rue  Royale."  ;      "  It 
would  be  undoubtedly  one  of  the  noblest  streets  in  Europe,"  wrote 
Smollett,  "  if  an  ugly  mass  of  mean  buildings,  called  the  Lucken- 
booths,  had  not  thrust  itself  into  the  middle  of  the  way."  4    Pennant 
had  the  same  tale  to  tell.     "  As  fine  a  street  as  most  in  Europe, 
was  spoilt  by  the  Luckenbooth   Row    and   the  Guard    House."' 
Carlyle,  when  he  came  to  Edinburgh  as  a  boy-student,  in  the  year 
1809,  had  seen  "  the  Luckenbooths,  with  their  strange  little  ins  and 
outs,  and  eager  old  women  in  miniature  shops  of  combs,  shoe-laces, 
and  trifles."6     One  venerable  monument  had  been  wantonly  re- 
moved, while  so  much  that  was  mean  and  ugly  was  left  to  encumber 
the  street.     In  1756  those  "dull  destroyers,"  the  magistrates,  had 
pulled  down  "  Dun-Edin's  Cross."7     From  the  bottom  of  the  hill 
"  by  the  very  Palace  door,"  up  to  the  gates  of  the  Castle  the  High 
Street,  even  so  late  as  Johnson's  time,  was  the  home  of  men  of 
rank,  of  wealth,  and  of  learning.     It  did  not  bear  that  look  of  sullen 
neglect  which  chills  the  stranger  who  recalls  its  past  glories.     The 
craftsmen  and  the  nobles,  the  poor  clerks  and  the  wealthy  merchants, 
judges,  shopkeepers,  labourers,   authors,  physicians,  and  lawyers, 
lived  all  side  by  side,  so  that  "  the  tide  of  existence  "  which  swept 
up  and  down  was  as  varied  as  it  was  full.     The  coldness  of  the 
grey  stone  of  the  tall  houses  was  relieved  by  the  fantastic  devices 
in  red  or  yellow  or  blue  on  a  ground  of  black,  by  which  each  trader 
signified  the  commodities  in  which  he  dealt.     As  each  story  was  a 
separate  abode,  there  were  often  seen  painted  on  the  front  of  one 
tall  house  half-a-dozen  different  signs.      Here  was  a  quartern  loaf 
over  a  full-trimmed  periwig,  and  there  a  Cheshire  cheese  or  a  rich 
firkin  of  butter  over  stays  and  petticoats.8     To  the  north,  scarcely 
broken  as  yet  by  the  scattered  buildings  of  the  infant  New  Town, 

1  Defoe's  Tour  through  Great  Britain  ;  Ac-  s    Tour  in  Scotland,  i.  52. 

count  of 'Scotland  (ed.  1727),  iii.  29,  30,  33.  e  Carlyle 's  Reminiscences,  ii.  5. 

'*  J.  Mackie's/OT<r»y  through  Scotland,  p.  65.  '  See   Marmion,    note   in    the   Appendix   on 

3  Letters  from  Edinburgh,  p.  8.  Canto  V.,  Stanza  25. 

4  Humphry  Clinker,  ii.  220.  8  Letters  from  Edinburgh,  p.  28. 


THE    HIGH   STREET    OF    EDINBURGH.  53 

the  outlook  commanded  that  "  incomparable  prospect  "  which  de- 
lighted Colonel  Mannering,  as  he  gazed  from  the  window  of  Coun- 
sellor Pleydell's  library  on  "  the  Frith  of  Forth  with  its  islands  ;  the 
einbayment  which  is  terminated  by  the  Law  of  North  Berwick,  and 
the  varied  shores  of  Fife,  indenting  with  a  hilly  outline  the  clear 
blue  horizon."  ' 

Every  Sunday  during  the  hours  of  service  the  streets  were 
silent  and  solitary,  as  if  a  plague  had  laid  waste  the  city.  But  in  a 
moment  the  scene  was  changed.  The  multitude  that  poured  forth 
from  each  church  swept  everything  before  it.  The  stranger  who 
attempted  to  face  it  was  driven  from  side  to  side  by  the  advancing 
flood.  The  faithful  were  so  intently  meditating  on  the  good  things 
which  they  had  just  heard  that  they  had  no  time  to  look  before 
them.  With  their  large  prayer-books  under  their  arms,  their  eyes 
fixed  steadily  on  the  ground,  and  wrapped  up  in  their  plaid  cloaks, 
they  went  on  regardless  of  everything  that  passed.2 

Less  than  thirty  years  before  Johnson,  on  that  August  night, 
"  went  up  streets,"  3  the  young  Pretender,  surrounded  by  his  High- 
landers, and  preceded  by  his  heralds  and  trumpeters,  had  marched 
from  the  Palace  of  his  ancestors  to  the  ancient  Market  Cross,  and 
there  had  had  his  father  proclaimed  King  by  the  title  of  James  the 
Seventh  of  Scotland  and  Third  of  England.  Down  the  same  street 
in  the  following  Spring  his  own  standard,  with  its  proud  motto  of 
Tandem  J^riumplians,  and  the  banners  of  thirteen  of  his  chief  cap- 
tains, in  like  manner  preceded  by  heralds  and  trumpeters,  had  been 
borne  on  the  shoulders  of  the  common  hangman  and  thirteen 
chimney-sweepers,  to  the  same  Cross,  and  there  publicly  burnt.1 
Here,  too,  was  seen  from  time  to  time  the  sad  and  terrible  proces- 
sion, when,  from  the  Tolbooth,  some  unhappy  wretch  was  led  forth 
to  die  in  the  Grass  Market.  As  the  clock  struck  the  hour  after 
noon,  the  City  Guard  knocked  at  the  prison  door.  The  convict  at 
once  came  out,  dressed  in  a  waistcoat  and  breeches  of  white,  bound 
with  black  ribands,  and  wearing  a  night-cap,  also  bound  with  black. 
His  hands  were  tied  behind  him,  and  a  rope  was  round  his  neck. 
On  each  side  of  him  walked  a  clergyman,  the  hangman  followed  be- 

1  Guy  Mannering,  ii.  101.  "logo  up  ffic street."— Scotticisms  by  Dr.  Beattie 

"  Letters  from  Edinburgh,  p.  233.    The  young  (published  anonymously),  p.  82. 

Englishman,  perhaps,  in  this  account  does  not  '  Arnot's   History  of  Edinburgh,    p.  223.     I 

aim  at  the  strictest  accuracy.     The  large  prayer-  assume  that   "  the  Prince's  colours  "  mentioned 

books  were,  I  suppose,  psalm-books  or  Bibles.  by  Arnot  was  the  flag  described  in  Wamrley,  ii, 

3  "To  go  up  streets"  is  an  Edinburgh  phrase  for  139. 


54  INTRODUCTION. 

hind,  muffled  in  ;i  great  coat,  while  all  around,  with  their  arms 
ready,  marched  the  Town  Guard.  Every  window  in  every  floor  of 
every  house  was  crowded  with  spectators.1  Happily  the  criminal 
law  of  Scotland  was  far  less  bloody  than  that  which  at  this  time 
disgraced  England,  and  executions,  except  for  murder,  were  rare.3 
There  was  also  much  less  crime.  While  the  streets  and  neighbour- 
hood of  London  were  beset  by  footpads  and  highwaymen,  in  Edin- 
burgh a  man  might  go  about  with  the  same  security  at  midnight  as 
at  noonday.  Street  robberies  were  very  rare,  and  a  street  murder 
was,  it  is  said,  a  thing  unknown.  This  general  safety  was  due 
partly  to  the  Town  Guard,'5  partly  also  to  the  Society  of  Cadies,  or 
Cawdies,  a  fraternity  of  errand-runners.  Each  member  had  to  find 
surety  for  good  behaviour,  and  the  whole  body  was  answerable  for 
the  dishonesty  of  each.  Their  chief  place  of  stand  was  at  the  top 
of  the  High  Street,  where  some  of  them  were  found  all  the  day  and 
most  of  the  night.  They  were  said  to  be  acquainted  with  every 
person  and  every  place  in  Edinburgh.  No  stranger  arrived  but 
they  knew  of  it  at  once.  They  acted  as  a  kind  of  police,  and  were 
as  useful  as  Sir  John  Fielding's  thief-takers  in  London.4  In  spite 
of  these  safeguards,  in  the  autumn  before  Johnson's  visit  there  was 
an  outbreak  of  crime.  A  reward  of  one  guinea  each  was  offered 
for  the  arrest  of  forty  persons  who  had  been  banished  the  city,  and 
who  were  suspected  of  having  returned."  The  worthy  Magistrates, 
it  should  seem,  were  like  Dogberry,  and  did  not  trouble  themselves 
about  a  thief  so  long  as  he  stole  out  of  their  company. 

The  Edinburgh  Tolbooth  and  the  other  Scotch  gaols  were 
worse  even  than  those  cruel  dens  in  which  the  miserable  prisoners 
were  confined  in  England.  They  had  no  court-yard  where  the 
fresh  air  of  heaven  might  be  breathed  for  some  hours  at  least  of 
every  weary  day.  Not  even  to  the  unhappy  debtor  was  any 
indulgence  shown.  That  air  was  denied  to  him  which  was  com- 
mon to  all.  Even  under  a  guard,  said  an  expounder  of  the  law, 
he  had  no  right  to  the  benefit  of  free  air ;  "  for  every  creditor  has 

1  Letters  from  Edinfatrg/i,  pp.  58-62.  3  The  guard  consisted  of  seventy-five  private 

3  According  to  Arnot,   for  many  years  pre-  men. — Jii.  p.  506. 

ceding  1763,  the  average  number  of  executions  4  Arnot 's  History  of  EJinlntrgh,  pp.  502,  658, 

for  the  whole  of  Scotland  was  only  three.    There  and  Letters  from  Edinburgh,  pp.   355-60.     By 

were  four  succeeding  years  in  which  the  punish-  the  year  1783,  says  Arnot,  in  his  second  edition, 

ment  of  death  was  not  once  inflicted.     By  1783,  p.  658,  their  number   and  their  character   had 

however,  the    English   severity   seems   to   have  greatly  sunk.     See  also   Humphry  Clinker,  ii. 

crept  in,  for  in  that  year,  in  Edinburgh  alone,  in  240. 

one  week  there  were  six  criminals  under  sentence  ''  Scots  Magazine  for  1772,  p.  636. 
of  death. — History  of  Edinburgh,  p.  670. 


THE  EDINBURGH  TOLBOOTH. 


55 


an  interest  that  his  debtor  be  kept  under  close  confinement,  that 
by  his  squalor  carceris  he  may  be  brought  to  the  payment  of  his 
just  debt." L     He  was  to  learn  the  fulness  of  the  meaning  of  "  the 
curse  of  a  severe  creditor  who  pronounces  his  debtor's  doom,  To 
Rot  in  Gaol." 2     At  the  present  time  even  in  Siberia  there  cannot,  I 
believe,  be  found  so  cruel  a  den  as  that  old  Edinburgh  To! booth, 
by     whose     gloomy    walls 
Johnson  passed  on  his  way 
to     Boswell's     comfortable 
home  close  by,  where  Mrs. 
Boswell  and  tea  were  await- 
ing   him.       In    one    room 
were  found  by  a  writer  who 
visited    the     prison     three 
lads  confined  among   "  the 
refuse  of  a  long  succession 
of  criminals."     The  straw 
which    was    their   bed    had 
been    worn    into    bits    two 
inches  long.      In  a  room  on 
the    floor  above  were  two 
miserable  boys  not  twelve 
years  old.      But  the  stench 
that    assailed    him    as    the 
door  was  opened  so  over- 
powered him  that  he  fled. 
The    accumulation    of   dirt 
which  he  saw  in  the  rooms 
and  on   the  staircases   was 

so  great,  that  it  set  him  speculating  in  vain  on  the  length  of 
time  which  must  have  been  required  to  make  it.  The  supply 
of  the  food  and  drink  was  the  jailer's  monopoly  ;  whenever  the 
poor  wretches  received  a  little  money  from  friends  outside,  or 
from  charity,  they  were  not  allowed  the  benefit  of  the  market  price. 
The  choice  of  the  debtor's  prison  was  left  to  the  caprice  of  his 
creditor,  and  that  which  was  known  to  be  the  most  loathsome  was 
often  selected.3  The  summer  after  Johnson's  visit  to  Edinburgh 


THE   TOLBOOTH. 


'  John  Erskine,  quoted  in  Tytler's  Life  of 
Lord  fCames,  vol.  i.  app.  x.  p.  74,  and  in  Arnot's 
History  of  Edinburgh,  p.  299. 


Howard's  State  of  the  Prisons,  p.  17. 
Arnot's  History  of  Edinburgh,  p.  300. 


56  INTRODUCTION. 

John  Wesley,  in  one  of  the  streets  of  that  town,  was  suddenly 
arrested  by  a  sheriff's  officer  on  a  warrant  to  commit  him  to  the 
Tolbooth.  Happily  he  was  first  taken  to  an  adjoining  building- 
some  kind  of  spunging-house,  it  is  probable — whence  he  sent  word 
to  his  friends,  and  obtained  bail.  The  charge  brought  against  him 
was  ridiculous,  and  in  the  end  the  prosecutor  had  heavy  damages 
to  pay.1  Nevertheless,  monstrous  though  the  accusation  was,  had 
Wesley  been  not  only  a  stranger  and  poor,  but  also  friendless,  it 
was  in  that  miserable  den  that  he  would  have  been  lodged.  His 
deliverance  might  have  been  by  gaol-fever. 

Boswell  himself,  if  we  may  trust  the  tradition,  little  more  than 
four  years  before  he  welcomed  Johnson,  had  run  a  risk  of  becoming 
acquainted  with  the  inside  of  that  prison.  Scotland  was  all  ablaze 
with  the  great  Douglas  cause.  The  succession  to  the  large  estates 
of  the  last  Duke  of  Douglas  was  in  dispute  ;  so  eagerly  did  men 
share  in  the  shifting  course  of  the  long  lawsuit,  that  it  was  scarcely 
safe  to  open  the  lips  about  it  in  mixed  company.  Boswell,  with 
all  the  warmth  of  his  eager  nature,  took  the  part  of  the  heir  whose 
legitimacy  was  disallowed  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  President  in 
the  Court  of  Session.  The  case  was  carried  on  appeal  to  the 
House  of  Lords,  and  on  Monday,  February  27,  1769,  the  Scotch 
decision  was  reversed.  A  little  before  eight  o'clock  on  Thursday 
evening  the  news  reached  Edinburgh  by  express.  The  city  was 
at  once  illuminated,  and  the  windows  of  the  hostile  judges  were 
broken.  Boswell,  it  is  said,  headed  the  mob.  That  his  own 
father's  house  was  among  those  which  he  and  his  followers  at- 
tacked, as  Sir  Walter  Scott  had  heard,2  is  very  unlikely :  Lord 
Auchinleck  had  voted  in  the  minority,  and  so  would  have  been  in 
high  favour  with  the  rioters.  A  party  of  foot  soldiers  was  marched 
into  the  city,  a  reward  of  fifty  pounds  was  offered  for  the  discovery 
of  the  offenders,  and  for  some  nights  the  streets  were  patrolled  by 
two  troops  of  dragoons.3  "  Boswell's  good  father,"  writes  Ramsay 
of  Ochtertyre,  "  entreated  the  President  with  tears  in  his  eyes  to 
put  his  son  in  the  Tolbooth.  Being  brought  before  Sheriff  Cock- 
burn  for  examination,  he  was  desired  to  tell  all  that  happened  that 
night  in  his  own  way.  '  After,'  said  he,  '  I  had  communicated  the 
glorious  news  to  my  father,  who  received  it  very  coolly,  I  went  to 

1  Wesley's_/««;-«<r/,  vol.  iv.  p.  17.  Speeches  in  the  Douglas  Cause  (most  likely 

2  Croker's  Bonvell,  p.  387.  Boswell),  p.  391  ;  and  Boswell's  Johnson,  ii. 

3  Scots    Magazine    for    1769,    p.     no;     The       230. 


THE   DOUGLAS   CAUSE    RIOT. 


57 


the  Cross  to  see  what  was  going  on.  There  I  overheard  a  group 
of  fellows  forming  their  plan  of  operations.  One  of  them  asked 
what  sort  of  a  man  the  sheriff  was,  and  whether  he  was  not  to  be 
dreaded.  'No,  no,'  answered  another;  '  he  is  a  puppy  of  the 
President's  making.'  On  hearing  this  exordium  Mr.  Cockburn 
went  off,  leaving  the  culprit  to  himself." 

Among  the  sights  which  Johnson  was  shown  at  Edinburgh,  the 
New  Town  was  not  included.  Yet  some  progress  had  been  made 
in  laying  out  those  streets, 
"  which  in  simplicity  and 
manliness  of  style  and  ge- 
neral breadth  and  bright- 
ness of  effect"  were  de- 
stined to  surpass  anything 
that  has  been  attempted 
in  modern  street  archi- 
tecture.a  from  Boswell's 
windows,  over  the  tops  of 
the  stately  elm-trees  which 
at  that  time  ran  in  front  of 
James's  Court  and  across 
a  deep  and  marshy  hollow, 
the  rising  houses  could  be 
easily  seen.  Full  in  view 
among  the  rest  was  the 
new  home  Hume  had 
lately  built  for  himself  at 
the  top  of  a  street  which  HUME'S  HOUSE. 

was  as  yet  unnamed,  but 

was  soon,  as  St.  David's,  to  commemorate  in  a  jest  the  great 
philosopher  who  was  its  first  inhabitant.  Had  the  change  which 
was  so  rapidly  coming  over  Auld  Reekie  been  understood  in  its 
full  extent,  surely  Johnson's  attention  would  have  been  drawn  to 
it.  Boswell  only  mentions  the  New  Town  to  introduce  the  name 
of  "  the  ingenious  architect "  who  planned  it,  Craig,  the  nephew 
of  the  poet  Thomson.3  His  mind,  perhaps,  was  so  set  on 
escaping  from  "  the  too  narrow  sphere  of  Scotland,"  and  on  re- 

'  Scotland  and  Scotsmen  in   the   Eighteenth  '2  Kuskin's  Lectures  on  Architecture  and  Paint- 

Century,  vol.  i.  p.  173.  ing,  p.  2. 

3  BosweH's_/0//«.tt>«,  iii.  360,  v.  68. 

I 


5S  INTRODUCTION. 

moving    to    London,    that  of  Edinburgh  and  its  fortunes   he  was 
careless.      Yet,  shrewd  observer  as   he  was  of  men  and  manners, 
he  must  have  noticed  how  the  tide  of  fashion  had  already  begun 
to  set   from   the   Old    Town,   and    was    threatening   to    leave    the 
ancient  homes  of  the  noble  and  the  wealthy  like  so  many  wrecks 
behind.      In  many  people  there  was  a  great  reluctance  to  make  a 
move.      To  some  the  old   familiar  life  in  a  fiat  was  dear,  and  the 
New  Town  was  built  after  the  English  fashion,  in  what  was  known 
as  "  houses  to  themselves."     "  One  old  lady  fancied  she  should  be 
lost  if  she  were   to  get  into   such   an    habitation  ;  another   feared 
being  blown   away  in  going  over  the  New  Bridge  ;  while  a  third 
thought  that  these  new  fashions  could  come  to  nae  glided  '    Never- 
theless, in  spite  of  all  these  terrors,  the  change  came  very  swiftly. 
So  early  as  1783,  "a  rouping-wife,  or  saleswoman  of  old  furniture," 
occupied  the  house  which  not  many  years  before  had  been  Lord 
President  Craigie's,  while  a  chairman  who  had  taken  Lord  Drum- 
more's  house  had  "  lately  left  it  for  want  of  accommodation." :    There 
were  men  of  position,  however,  who,  fashion  or  no  fashion,  clung 
to  their  old   homes   for   many   years   later.      Oueensberry   House, 
nearly   at   the   foot   of  the    Canongate,   which   in  later   years   was 
turned    into    a    Refuge    for   the   Destitute,   so    late    as    1803    was 
inhabited   by  the   Lord  Chief  Baron   Montgomery.      Lord   Cock- 
burn  remembered  well  the  old  judge's  tall,  well-dressed  figure  in 
the  old  style,  and  the  brilliant  company  which  gathered  round  him 
in  that  ancient  but  decayed  quarter/' 

It  was  full  five  years  before  Johnson's  arrival  that  Dr.  Robert- 
son, pleading  the  cause  of  his  poverty-stricken  University,  pointed 
out  how  the  large  buildings  that  were  rising  suddenly  on  all  sides, 
the  magnificent  bridge  that  had  been  begun,  and  the  new  streets  and 
squares  all  bore  the  marks  of  a  country  growing  in  arts  and  in 
industry.'  It  was  in  1765  that  the  foundations  were  laid  of  the 
bridge  which  was  to  cross  the  valley  that  separates  the  Old  and 
New  Town.  It  was  not  till  1772  that  "it  was  made  passable."5 
In  1783  the  huge  mound  was  begun  which  now  so  conveniently 
joins  the  two  hills.  The  earth  of  .which  it  is  formed  was  dug  out 
in  making  the  foundations  of  the  new  houses.  Fifteen  hundred 
cartloads  on  an  average  were  thrown  in  daily  for  the  space  of  three 

1  Letters  from  Edinburgh,  p.  12.  4  Heats  Magazine  for  1768,  p.   115. 

"  Arnot's  History  of  Edinburgh,  p.  653.  '  Avnot's  History  of  Edinburgh,  p.  314. 

3  Cockburn's  Memorials  oj  his  -Time,  p.  183. 


THE   NEW   TOWN    OF   EDINBURGH.  59 

years.1  The  valley,  which  with  its  lawns,  its  slopes,  its  trim  walls, 
its  beds  of  (lowers,  and  its  trees,  adds  so  much  to  the  pleasantness 
and  beauty  of  Edinburgh,  was  when  Johnson  looked  down  into  it 
"a  deep  morass,  one  of  the  dirtiest  puddles  upon  earth. ":  It  was 
in  its  black  mud  that  Hume  one  day  stuck  when  he  had  slipped 
off  the  stepping-stones  on  the  way  to  his  new  house.  A  fishwife, 
who  was  following  after  him,  recognizing  "  the  Deist,"  refused  to 
help  him  unless  he  should  recite  first  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the 
Belief.3  This  he  at  once  did  to  her  great  wonder.  His  admiration 
for  the  New  Town  was  unbounded.  If  the  High  Street  was  finer 
than  anything  of  its  kind  in  Europe  the  New  Town,  he  maintained, 
exceeded  anything  in  any  part  of  the  world.  '  "  You  would  not 
wonder  that  I  have  abjured  London  for  ever,"  he  wrote  to  his 
friend,  Strahan,  in  the  year  1772,  "  if  you  saw  my  new  house  and 
situation  in  St.  Andrew's  Square."  5  Adam  Smith  told  Rogers  the 
poet,  who  visited  Edinburgh  in  1 789,  that  the  Old  Town  had 
given  Scotland  a  bad  name,  and  that  he  was  anxious  to  move  with 
the  rest." 

The  age  which  I  am  attempting  to  describe  was  looked  upon 
by  Lord  Cockburn  as  "  the  last  purely  Scotch  age  that  Scotland 
was  destined  to  see.  The  whole  country  had  not  begun  to  be 
absorbed  in  the  ocean  of  London."  7  The  distance  between  the 
two  capitals  as  measured  by  time,  fatigue,  and  money  was  little 
less  than  the  distance  in  the  present  day  between  Liverpool  and 
New  York.  Johnson,  who  travelled  in  post-chaises,  and  therefore 
in  great  comfort,  was  nine  days  on  the  road.  "He  purposed,"  he 
wrote,  "  not  to  loiter  much  by  the  way  ;  "  9  but  he  did  not  journey 
by  night,  and  he  indulged  in  two  days'  rest  at  Newcastle.  Hume, 
three  years  later,  travelling  by  easy  stages  on  account  of  his  failing 
health,  took  two  clays  longer."  Had  Johnson  gone  by  the  public 
conveyance,  the  "  Newcastle  Fly  "  would  have  brought  him  in  three 
days  as  far  as  that  town  at  a  charge  of  ^"3  6^.  On  the  panels  of  the 
"  Fly  "  was  painted  the  motto,  Sat  cito  si  sat  bcne.  Thence  he  would 
have  continued  his  journey  by  the  "  Edinburgh  Fly,"  which 

1  Arnot's  History  of  Edinburgh,  p.  654,  and  '  //>.  ii.  462. 

W.  Creech's  Letters  to  Sir  John  Sinclair,  p.  9.  '  Letters  of  David  Hume  to  William  Strahan, 

Creech  gives  the  number  of  cartloads  at  eighteen  p.  227. 

hundred.  "  Early  Life  of  Samuel  Rogers,  p.  92. 

'*   Arnot's  History  of  Edinburgh,  anil   Francis  '  Cock  burn's  l.ije  of  Jfff>'L'y,  '•   T57' 

Douglas's  General  Description  of  the  East  Coast  ~°  Hoswcll's  Johnson,  ii.  265. 

of  Scotland,  1782,  p.  9.  ;'  Hume's  Let/as  to  Strahan,  p.  320 

3  Burton's  Life  of  Hume,  ii.  458. 


INTRODUCTION. 

traversed  the  whole  remaining  distance  in  a  single  day  in  summer, 
and  in  a  day  and  a  hall  in  winter.  The  charge  for  this  was  £  i  IK*.  6J. 
In  these  sums  were  not  included  the  payments  to  the  drivers  and 
guards.  The  "  Newcastle  Fly  "  ran  six  times  a  week,  starting  from 
London  an  hour  after  midnight.  The  "  Edinburgh  Fly  "  ran  only 
on  ruesdays,  Thursdays,  and  Saturdays.  A  traveller  then  who 
lost  no  time  on  the  road,  leaving  London  at  one  o'clock  on  Sunday 
night,  would  in  the  summer-time  reach  Edinburgh  by  Thursday 
evening,  and  in  the  winter  alter  mid-day  on  Friday.1  Even  the 
mail  which  was  carried  on  horse  -back,  and  went  tive  times  a  week, 
took  in  good  weather  about  S^  hours.5  The  news  of  the  battle  of 
Culloden.  though  it  was  forwarded  by  an  express,  was  seven  days 
all  but  two  or  three  hours  in  reaching  London.'  There  were  men 
living  in  18.14  who  recollected  when  the  mail  came  down  with  only 
one  single  letter  for  Edinburgh.*  By  1793  a  great  acceleration 
had  been  effected  in  the  coach-service.  It  was  possible,  so  the  proud 
boast  ran,  to  leave  Edinburgh  alter  morning  service  on  Sunday, 
spend  a  whole  day  in  London,  and  be  back  again  by  six  o'clock  on 
Saturday  morning.'  The  wean,  traveller  would  have  had  to  pass 
every  night  in  the  coach.  By  the  year  i  Soo  the  journey  was  done 
from  London  to  Edinburgh  in  nfry-eight  hours,  and  from  Edin- 
burgh to  London  in  sixty  and  a  half/  But  such  annihilation  of 
time  and  space,  as  no  doubt  this  rapid  rate  of  travelling  was  then 
called,  was  not  dreamed  of  in  Johnson's  day.  The  capitals  of 
Engiand  and  Scotland  still  stood  widely  apart.  It  was  wholly  "a 
Scotch  scene  "  wr.xrh  the  English  traveller  saw.  and  ~  independent 
and  ideas  and  pursuits'"  caught  his  attention.*  Neverthe- 
ir.  one  respect  Edinburgh,  as  I  have  already  said,  teh  strongly 
:rr._>ence  of  England.  In  its  literature  and  its  language  it  was 
*abvYxxts!y  tanning  itself  on  the  English  modeL  There  had  been 
a  long  period  during  which  neither  learning  nor  literature  had 
shone  :n  Scotland  with  any  brightness  of  tight.  Since  the  days 
oi~  the  great  cisssxal  scholars  not  a  single  tamous  author  had  been 
seen.  There  had  been  "•tanking  candtes"  from  rime  to  rime,  bnt 
.  ^  >  The  two  countries  were  under  the  same 

•  jLecjtm*  'ii'  "j-i  SJbOk.  i.  77. 

?.  It- 


.  J^L.  «t  i.   >9taiBML|y. 

cr-  .1.  :~.  ant  T«fcr"> 


THE   "EDINBURGH    FLY."  f,i 

sovereign,  but  there  was  no  Age  of  Queen  Anne  north  of  the 
Tweed.  There  was  indeed  that  general  diffusion  of  learning  which 
was  conspicuously  wanting  in  England.  An  English  traveller 
noticed  with  surprise  how  rare  it  was  to  find  "a  man  of  any  rank 
but  the  lowest  who  had  not  some  tincture  of  learning.  It  was  the 
pride  and  delight  of  every  father  to  give  his  son  a  liberal  educa- 
tion." Nevertheless  it  had  been  "  with  their  learning  as  with 
provisions  in  a  besieged  town,  every  man  had  a  mouthful  and  no 
one  a  bellyful."  That  there  was  a  foundation  for  Johnson's  pointed 
saying  was  many  years  later  candidly  admitted  by  Sir  Walter 
Scott.3  So  great  had  been  the  dearth  of  literature  that  the 
printer's  art  had  fallen  into  decay.  About  the  year  1 740  there 
were  but  four  printing-houses  in  Edinburgh,  which  found  scanty 
employment  in  producing  school-books,  law-papers,  newspapers, 
sermons,  and  Bibles.  By  1779  the  number  had  risen  from  four  to 
seven  and  twenty.4  This  rapid  growth  was  by  no  means  wholly 
due  to  an  increase  in  Scotch  authors.  Edinburgh  might  have 
become  "  a  hot-bed  of  genius,"  but  such  productiveness  even  in  a 
hot-bed  would  have  been  unparalleled.  The  booksellers  in  late 
years,  in  defiance  of  the  supposed  law  of  copyright,  had  begun  to 
reprint  the  works  of  standard  English  writers,  and  after  a  long 
litigation  had  been  confirmed  in  what  they  were  doing  by  a 
decision  given  in  the  House  of  Lords.5 

The  growth  of  literature  in  Scotland  had  taken  a  turn  which 
was  not  unnatural.  In  the  troubles  of  the  seventeenth  century  the 
nation,  while  yet  it  was  in  its  power,  had  neglected  to  refine  its 
language.  No  great  masters  of  style  had  risen.  There  had  been 
no  Sir  William  Temple  "to  give  cadence  to  its  prose."'  The 
settled  government  and  the  freedom  from  tyranny  which  the 
country  enjoyed  on  the  fall  of  the  Stuarts,  the  growth  of  material 
wealth  which  followed  on  the  Union,  the  gradual  diminution  of 
bigotry  and  the  scattering  of  darkness  which  was  part  of  the  general 
enlightenment  of  Europe  had  given  birth  to  a  love  of  modern  litera- 
ture. The  old  classical  learning  no  longer  sufficed.  Having  no 
literature  of  their  own  which  satisfied  their  aspirations,  the  younger 
generation  of  men  was  forced  to  acquire  the  language  of  their 

1   Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1766,  p.  167.  *  Arnot's  Hillary  of  Edinburgh,  p.  437. 

''  Boswell's/oAiuOTf,  ii.  363,  ».  3.  ;  Bos  well 's/tfA»J<»»,  i-  437.  «-272.  and  Hume's 

1  In  the  speech  which  he  marie  in  1824  on  the  Letters  to  Strahan,  p.  275. 

opening  of  the  New  Edinburgh  Academy.— Lock-  '-  Boswell's/oAHttW,  iii.  257. 

hart's  Life  of  Scott,  vii.  271. 


62  INTRODUCTION. 

ancient  rivals,  brought  as  it  had  been  by  a  long  succession  of 
illustrious  authors  to  a  high  decree  of  perfection.1  It  was  to  the 
volumes  of  Addison  that  the  Scotch  student  was  henceforth  to  give 
his  days  and  nights.  To  read  English  was  an  art  soon  acquired, 
but  to  write  it,  and  still  more  to  speak  it  correctly,  demanded  a 
long  and  laborious  study.  Very  few,  with  all  their  perseverance, 
succeeded  like  Mallet  in  "clearing  their  tongues  from  their  native 
pronunciation."  Even  to  understand  the  language  when  spoken 
was  only  got  by  practice.  A  young  lady  from  the  country,  who 
was  reproached  with  having  seen  on  the  Edinburgh  stage  some 
loose  play,  artlessly  replied  : — "  Indeed  they  did  nothing  wrong 
that  I  saw  ;  and  as  for  what  they  said,  it  was  high  English,  and  I 
did  not  understand  it."  Dr.  Beattie  studied  English  from  books 
like  a  dead  language.  To  write  it  correctly  cost  him  years  of 
labour.'  "  The  conversation  of  the  Edinburgh  authors,"  said 
Topham,  "  showed  that  they  wrote  English  as  a  foreign  tongue," 
for  their  spoken  language  was  so  unlike  their  written.5  Some  men 
were  as  careless  of  their  accent  as  they  were  careful  of  their  words. 
Hume's  tone  was  always  broad  Scotch,  but  Scotch  words  he  care- 
fully avoided.'1  Others  indulged  in  two  styles  and  two  accents, 
one  for  familiar  life,  the  other  for  the  pulpit,  the  court  of  Session, 
or  the  professor's  chair.  In  all  this  there  was  a  great  and  a  strange 
variety  Lord  Kames,  for  instance,  in  his  social  hour  spoke  pure 
Scotch,  though  "with  a  tone  not  displeasing  from  its  vulgarity  ;  " 
on  the  Bench  his  language  approached  to  English.7  His  brother 
judge,  Lord  Auchinleck,  on  the  other  hand,  clung  to  his  mother 
tongue.  He  would  not  smooth  or  round  his  periods,  or  give  up 
his  broad  Scotch,  however  vulgar  it  was  accounted.  The  sturdy 
old  fellow  felt,  no  doubt,  a  contempt  for  that  "  compound  of  affecta- 
tion and  pomposity  "  which  some  of  his  countrymen  spoke — a 
language  which  "no  Englishman  could  understand."  In  their 
attempt  to  get  rid  of  their  accent  they  too  often  arrived  at  the 
young  lady's  High  English,  a  mode  of  speaking  far  enough  removed 
no  doubt  from  the  Scotch,  but  such  as  "  made  '  the  fools  who  used 
it '  truly  ridiculous." '  There  were  others  who  were  far  more  suc- 

'  Scotland  and  Scotsmen    in   the   Eighteenth  B  Hume's  Letters  to  Strahan,  p.  6. 

Century,  i.  169.  '  Scotland  and  Scotsmen,  etc.,  i.  211,  ii.  544; 

'•*  Johnson's  Works,  viii.  464.  and  Tytler's  Life  of  Lord  Kames,  ii.  240. 

3  Scotland  and  Scotsmen,  etc.,  ii.  63.  *  Scotland  and  Scotsmen,  etc.,  i.    167-170,   ii. 

4  Forbes'  Life  aj  Beattie,  p.  243.  543. 

5  Letters  from  Edinburgh,  p.  55.  a  Boswell's  fohnson,  ii.  159.    Lord  Jeffrey  was 


ENGLISH   STUD1KD    BY   THE   SCOTCH.  63 

cessful.  "  The  conversation  of  the  Scots,"  wrote  Johnson,  "grows 
every  day  less  unpleasing  to  the  English  ;  their  peculiarities  wear 
fast  away;  their  dialect  is  likely  to  become  in  half  a  century  provincial 
and  rustic,  even  to  themselves.  The  great,  the  learned,  the 
ambitious,  and  the  vain,  all  cultivate  the  English  phrase,  and  the 
English  pronunciation  ;  and  in  splendid  companies  Scotch  is  not 
much  heard,  except  now  and  then  from  an  old  lady."  :  The  old 
lady  whom  he  chiefly  had  in  his  memory  when  he  wrote  this  was 
probably  the  Duchess  of  Douglas.  He  had  met  her  at  Boswell's 
table.  "  She  talks  broad  Scotch  with  a  paralytick  voice,"  he  wrote 
to  Mrs.  Thrale,  "  and  is  scarce  understood  by  her  own  countrymen."  : 
Bosvvell  himself,  by  the  instruction  of  a  player  from  Drury  Lane, 
who  had  brought  a  company  to  Edinburgh,  succeeded  so  well  in 
clearing  his  tongue  of  his  Scotch  that  Johnson  complimented  him 
by  saying  :  "  Sir,  your  pronunciation  is  not  offensive."1 

In  their  pursuit  of  English  literature  the  Scotch  proved  as 
successful  as  in  everything  else  which  they  took  in  hand.  Whatever 
ill-will  may  have  existed  between  the  two  nations,  there  was  no 
grudging  admiration  shown  in  England  for  their  authors.  In 
popularity  few  writers  of  their  time  surpassed  Thomson,  Smollett, 
Hume,  Robertson,  John  Home,  Macpherson,  Hugh  Blair,  Beattie, 
and  Boswell  ;  neither  had  Robert  Blair,  Mallet,  Kames,  John 
Dalrymple,  Henry  Mackenzie,  Monboddo,  Adam  Eerguson,  and 
Watson,  any  reason  to  complain  of  neglect.  If  Adam  Smith  and 
Reid  were  not  so  popular  as  some  of  their  contemporaries  it  was 
because  they  had  written  for  the  small  class  of  thinkers  ;  though 
the  Wealth  of  Nations,  which  was  published  little  more  than  two 
years  after  Johnson's  visit,  was  by  the  end  of  the  century  to  reach 
its  ninth  edition.  "  This,  I  believe,  is  the  historical  age,  and  this 
the  historical  nation,"  Hume  wrote  proudly  from  Edinburgh.4  He 
boasted  that  "  the  copy-money  "  given  him  for  his  History  "  much 
exceeded  anything  formerly  known  in  England."  It  made  him 
"  not  only  independent  but  opulent."  Robertson  for  his  Charles  V. 
received  ,£3,400,  and  ,£400  was  to  be  added  on  the  publication  of 
the  second  edition.5  Blair  for  a  single  volume  of  his  Sermons  was 
paid  ,£6oo.8 

Whatever  ardour  Scotchmen  showed  for  English  literature  as 

accused  "of  having  lost   the   broad   Scotcli  at  3  Boswell's  Johnson,  ii.  159. 

Oxford,  and  of  having  gained  only  the  narrow  4  Hume's  Letters  to  Stratum,  p.  1 55. 

English." — Cockburn's  Life  of  Jeffrey,  \.  46.  '   /!>   pp.  xxx.  15. 

1    Works,  ix.  159.          *  Piozzi  Letters,  i.  109.  a  Boswell's  Johnson,  iii.  98. 


64  INTRODUCTION. 

men  of  letters,  yet  they  never  for  one  moment  forgot  their  pride  in 
their  own  country.  In  a  famous  club  they  had  banded  themselves 
together  for  the  sake  of  doing  away  with  a  reproach  which  had 
been  cast  upon  their  nation.  Just  as  down  to  the  present  time  no 
Parliament  has  ventured  to  trust  Ireland  with  a  single  regiment  of 
volunteers,  so  Scotland  one  hundred  years  ago  was  not  trusted  with 
a  militia.  In  the  words  of  Burns, 

"  Her  lost  militia  fired  her  bluid."  ' 

In  1759  a  Bill  for  establishing  this  force  had  been  brought  into 
Parliament,  and  though  Pitt  acquiesced  in  the  measure,  it  was 
thrown  out  by  "  the  young  Whigs."  Most  Englishmen  probably 
felt  with  Horace  Walpole,  when  he  rejoiced  that  "  the  disaffected 
in  Scotland  could  not  obtain  this  mode  of  having  their  arms 
restored."  a  Two  or  three  years  later  the  literary  men  in  Edinburgh, 
affronted  by  this  refusal,  formed  themselves  into  a  league  of  patriots. 
The  name  of  The  Militia  Club,  which  they  had  at  first  thought  of 
adopting,  was  rejected  as  too  directly  offensive.  With  a  happy 
allusion  to  the  part  which  they  were  to  play  in  stirring  up  the  fire 
and  spirit  of  the  country,  they  decided  on  calling  themselves  "  The 
Poker."  Andrew  Crosbie,  the  original  of  Mr.  Counsellor  Pleydell, 
was  humorously  elected  Assassin,  and  David  Hume  was  added  as 
his  Assessor,  "without  whose  assent  nothing  should  be  done."*  It 
was  urged  with  great  force  that  Scotland  was  as  much  exposed  as 
England  to  plunder  and  invasion.  Why,  it  was  asked,  was  she 
refused  a  militia  when  one  had  been  granted  to  Cumberland  and 
Westmoreland,  and  Lancashire  ?  Had  not  those  countries  con- 
tributed more  adventurers  to  the  forces  of  the  Young  Pretender 
than  all  the  Lowlands  ?  "  Why  put  a  sword  in  the  hands  of 
foreigners  for  wounding  the  Scottish  nation  and  name  ?  A  name 
admired  at  home  for  fidelity,  regaled  [sic]  in  every  clime  for  strict- 
ness of  discipline,  and  dreaded  for  intrepidity."4  In  1776  the  Bill 
was  a  second  time  brought  in,  but  was  a  second  time  rejected.  "  I 
am  glad,"  said  Johnson,  "that  the  Parliament  has  had  the  spirit  to 
throw  it  out."  ~a  By  this  time  it  was  not  timidity  only  which  caused 
the  rejection.  The  English  were  touched  in  their  pockets.  It  was 

1  T/ie  Author's  Earnest  Cry  and  Prayer.  *  Andrew    Henderson's   Consideration  on  the 

2  Walpole 's  Keign  of  George  II.,  iii.  280.  Scots  Militia  (ed.  1761),  p.  26. 

3  Dr.  Alexander  Carlyle's  Autobiography,  pp.  5  'Bo^vfeM's^o/inson,  iii.  I. 
399,  4«9- 


THE    POKER   CLUB.  65 

maintained  that  as  Scotland  contributed  so  little  to  the  land-tax,  so 
if  she  needed  a  militia  she  ought  to  bear  the  whole  expense  herself. 
"  What  enemy, '  asked  Johnson  scornfully,  "  would  invade  Scotland 
where  there  is  nothing  to  be  got  ? "  It  was  not  till  the  year  1793, 
in  the  midst  of  the  alarms  of  a  war  with  France,  that  the  force  was 
at  last  established,  and  Scotland  in  one  more  respect  placed  on  an 
equality  with  England. 

In  Edinburgh  such  a  club  as  this,  formed  of  all  the  eager  active 
spirits  in  the  place,  could  act  with  the  greater  vigour  from  the  ease 
with  which  the  members  could  meet.  In  whatever  quarter  of  the 
town  men  lived,  even  if  they  had  moved  to  the  squares  which  had 
lately  been  built  to  the  north  and  south,  they  were  not  much  more 
widely  separated  than  the  residents  in  the  Colleges  ot  Oxford.  The 
narrowness  of  the  limits  in  which  they  were  confined  is  shown  by 
the  small  number  of  hackney-coaches  which  served  their  wants.  In 
London,  in  1761,  there  were  eight  hundred;  by  1784  they  had 
risen  to  a  thousand. 'J  In  Edinburgh  there  were  but  nine;  and  even 
these,  it  was  complained,  were  rarely  to  be  seen  on  the  stand  after 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  It  was  in  sedan  chairs  that  visits  of 
ceremony  were  paid;  the  bearers  were  Highlanders,  as  in  London 
they  were  generally  Irishmen.'5  The  dinner-hour  was  still  so  early 
that  the  meal  of  careless  and  cheerful  hospitality  was  the  supper. 
In  1763  fashionable  people  dined  at  two;  twenty  years  later  at  four 
or  even  at  five.1  At  the  time  of  Johnson's  visit  three  was  probably 
the  common  hour.  Dr.  Carlyle  describes  the  ease  with  which  in 
his  younger  days  a  pleasant  supper  party  was  gathered  together. 
"  We  dined  where  we  best  could,  and  by  cadies  '  we  assembled  our 
friends  to  meet  us  in  a  tavern  by  nine  o'clock  ;  and  a  fine  time  it  was 
when  we  could  collect  David  Hume,  Adam  Smith,  Adam  Ferguson, 
Lord  Elibank,  and  Drs.  Blair  and  Jardine  on  an  hour's  warning."' 
Though  the  Scotch  were  "  religious  observers  of  hospitality,"  7  yet 
a  stranger  did  not  readily  get  invited  to  their  favourite  meal.  "  To 
be  admitted  to  their  suppers  is  a  mark  of  their  friendship.  At  them 
the  restraints  of  ceremony  are  banished,  and  you  see  people  really 
as  they  are."  The  Scotch  ladies,  it  was  noticed,  at  these  cheerful 
but  prolonged  repasts  drank  more  wine  than  an  English  woman 

1  Boswell's_/i7^«i0tt,  ii.  431.    See  also  Annual  '  //'.  p.  662. 

Register  for  1776,  i.  140.  '   K<>r  a  penny  :\  cadie  was  obliged  to  carry  a 

3  Dodsley's  London  utiil  //.v  Environs,  iii.  124,  letter  to  the  remotest  part  of  the  town, 

and  lios well's  Johnson,  iv.  330.  "  Dr.  Carlyle's  Aiitobiography,  p.  275. 

3  Arnot's  History  of  Edinhurgli ,  p.  598.  ~   Gentleman' s  Magazine  fo*  1766,  p.  168. 


66  INTRODUCTION. 

could  well  bear,  "  but  the  climate  required  it."  The  "  patriotic 
Knox"  describes  the  inhabitants  of  Edinburgh  as  being  "not  only 
courteous,  obliging,  open,  and  hospitable,  but  well-inclined  to 
the  bottle."  It  was  not  to  the  climate  that  he  attributed  this  joyous 
devotion,  but  "  to  their  social  dispositions  and  the  excellence  of 
their  wines."  Boswell  has  left  us  a  description  of  a  supper  which 
he  enjoyed  at  Hume's  new  house  in  St.  Andrew's  Square.  He  had 
1  )r.  Robertson  and  Lord  Kames  for  his  fellow-guests,  and  three 
sorts  of  ice-creams  among  the  dishes.  "  What'  think  you  of  the 
northern  Epicurus  style  ?  "  he  asked.  He  complained,  however, 
that  he  could  recollect  no  conversation.  "  Our  writers  here  are 
really  not  prompt  on  all  occasions  as  those  of  London."  He  had 
been  spoilt  by  the  talk  in  the  taverns  of  Fleet  Street  and  the  Turk's 
Head  Club,  and  was  discontented  because  he  did  not  find  in  St. 
Andrew's  Square  a  Johnson,  a  Burke,  a  Wilkes,  and  a  Beauclerk. 

Into  Hume's  pleasant  house  Johnson  unhappily  never  entered.4 
He  even  thought  that  his  friend  Dr.  Adams,  the  Master  of  Pem- 
broke College,  had  done  wrong  when  he  had  met  by  invitation 
"  that  infidel  writer"  at  dinner,  and  "  had  treated  him  with  smooth 
civility."  5  Yet  a  man  who  could  yield  to  the  temptation  of  the  talk 
of  Jack  Wilkes  had  no  right  to  stand  aloof  from  David  Hume.  We 
should  like  to  know  what  he  would  have  thought  of  that  philosopher's 
soupc  a  la  rcine  made  from  a  receipt  which  he  had  copied  in  his  own 
neat  hand,  or  of  his  "  beef  and  cabbage  (a  charming  dish)  and 
old  mutton  and  old  claret,  in  which,"  he  boasted,  "  no  man  excelled 
him."  Perhaps,  however,  if  Johnson  could  have  been  persuaded  to 
taste  the  claret,  old  as  it  was,  he  would  have  shaken  his  head  over 
it  and  called  it  "poor  stuff.""  The  sheep-head  broth  he  would 
certainly  have  refused,  though  one  Mr.  Keith  did  speak  of  it 
Tor  eight  days  after,7  and  the  Duke  de  Nivernois  would  have  bound 
himself  apprentice  to  Hume's  lass  to  learn  it.8  "  The  stye  of  that 

1  Topham's  Letters  from  Edinburgh,  p.  66.  fourteen  feet  high.  The  kitchen  and  the  cellars 

-  Knox's  Tour,  p.  9.  were  evidently  contrived  fur  a  man  who  intended 

3  Letters  of  Bosu'ell  to  Temple,  p.  203.  to  boast  with  justice  of  his  dinners  and  his  wine. 

'  This  house  for  many  years — not  much  less  From  the  windows  of  every  floor  there  must  have 

than  seventy,  I  was  told — has  been  occupied  as  a  been  an  uninterrupted  view  of  the  shores  of  Fife, 

tailor's  shop.    By  the  kindness  of  the  heads  of  the  across  the  Firth  of  Forth,  and  of  the  house  in 

firm,  Messrs.  Lander  and   Ilardie,  I  was  shown  Kirkaldy,  where  Adam  Smith  was  living. 

over  the  building.     Though  it  has  been  a  good  '  Boswell's_/a4;z.w«,  ii.  441. 

deal  altered  for  the  purposes  of  business  it  is  still  c  Ib.  iii.  381. 

substantially  the  same  solid  stone  house  which  '  Eight  days  is,    I    suppose,   one  of  Hume's 

Hume  in  his  prosperity  built  for  the  closing  years  Gallicisms. 

of  his  life..    The  rooms  are  lofty,  being  about  "  Letters  of  Hume  to  Strahan,  p.  116. 


JOHNSON    AND   DAVID    HUME.  r>7 

fattest  of  Epicurus's  hogs  "  he  failed  to  visit.  "  You  tell  me,"  wrote 
the  great  Gibbon  to  a  friend  who  was  at  Edinburgh  just  at  the  time 
of  Johnson's  arrival,  "you  tell  me  of  a  long  list  of  Dukes,  Lords, 
and  Chieftains  of  renown  to  whom  you  are  introduced  ;  were  I  with 
you  I  should  prefer  one.  David  to  them  all."1  Boswell  could  easily 
have  brought  the  two  men  together,  intimate  as  he  was  with  both. 
Early  in  his  life  he  was  able  to  boast  that  one  of  them  had  visited 
him  in  the  forenoon  and  the  other  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day." 
Hume's  conversation  perhaps  was  not  after  the  fashion  which 
Johnson  liked.  It  certainly  would  not  have  come  recommended  to 
him  by  his  broad  Scotch  accent.  Nevertheless  there  was  that  about 
it  which  endeared  it  to  his  friends.  For  innocent  mirth  and 
agreeable  raillery  he  was  thought  to  be  unmatched/'  Adam  Smith 
has  celebrated  his  constant  pleasantry.  In  his  wit  there  was  not 
the  slightest  tincture  of  malignity.1  But  Johnson  would  have 
nothing  to  do  with  him/'  In  Boswell's  house  in  James's  Court, 
that  Sunday  he  spent  there  in  Dr.  Robertson's  company,  he  said 
"something  much  too  rough  both  as  to  Mr.  Hume's  head  and 
heart,"  which  Boswell  thought  well  to  suppress.  In  the  quiet  still- 
ness of  that  summer  sabbath  day  in  Edinburgh,  the  strong  loud 
voice  might  almost  have  been  carried  across  the  narrow  valley 
to  St.  Andrew's  Square,  and  startled  the  philosopher  in  his  retire- 
ment. 

Neither  did  Johnson  see  Adam  Smith,  who  in  Hume's  house 
had  his  room  whenever  he  chose  to  occupy  it.  To  meet  a  famous 
stranger  he  would,  we  may  well  believe,  have  willingly  crossed  the 
Firth  from  his  house  in  Kirkaldy.  But  the  two  men  had  once  met 
in  London,  and  "  we  did  not  take  to  each  other,"  said  Johnson. 
Had  he  been  more  tolerant,  and  sought  the  society  of  these  two 
great  Scotchmen,  he  would  have  seen  in  Scotland  the  best  which 
Scotland  had  to  show.  Even  as  it  was,  in  his  visit  to  the  capital 
and  the  seats  of  the  other  universities,  in  his  tour  through  Lowlands, 
Highlands  and  Isles,  he  saw  perhaps  as  great  a  variety  of  men  and 
manners  as  had  been  seen  in  that  country  by  any  Englishman  up  to 
his  time. 

'  Gibbon's  Miscellaneous  Works,  ii.  1 10.  Puttick   and    Simpson's  catalogue  for  July  30, 

2  Letters  of  Boswell  to  Temple,  p.  151.  1886,  Johnson   was   once   Hume's  guest.     The 

3  Dr.  Carlyle's  Autobiography,  p.  276.  compilers  of  auction  catalogues,    however,   aie 

4  Hume's  Letters  to  Stralian,  p.  xl.  not  infallible  as  editors,  and  often  make  strange 
'  If  we  can  trust   the  description   of  one  of       mistakes. 

Hume's  autograph  letters  (No.  1105)  in  Messrs. 


68  BEGINNING  OF  THE  TOUR. 


EDINBURGH  (AUGUST   14-18).     THE  WHITE  HORSE   INN. 

On  Friday,  August  6th,  1773,  Dr.  Johnson  set  off  from  London 
on  his  famous  tour  to  the  Western  Islands  of  Scotland.  His 
companion  as  far  as  Newcastle  was  Robert  Chambers,  Principal  of 
New  Inn  Hall,  Oxford,  who  had  been  lately  appointed  one  of  the 
new  judges  for  India,  and  was  going  down  to  his  native  town  to 
take  leave  of  his  family.  The  two  friends  travelled  in  a  post- 
chaise.  "  Life  has  not  many  better  things  than  this,"  said  Johnson 
once  when  he  was  driven  rapidly  along  in  one  with  Boswell.1  It 
was  too  costly  a  pleasure  for  him  to  indulge  in  often  unless  he 
could  find  a  companion  to  share  the  expense.  The  charge  for  a 
chaise  and  pair  of  horses  for  two  passengers  from  London  to 
Edinburgh  could  scarcely  have  been  kept  under  twenty-two 
pounds."  The  weather  was  bright  and  hot.:i  At  Newcastle 
Chambers's  place  in  the  chaise  was  taken  by  a  fellow-townsman 
who  was  destined  to  go  far  beyond  him  in  the  career  of  the  law- 
William  Scott,  afterwards  Lord  Stowell,  the  great  judge  of  the 
High  Court  of  Admiralty.  The  travellers  entered  Scotland  by 
Berwick-on-Tweed,  passing  near  to  those  nine  wells  which  gave 
their  name  to  the  estate  which  had  come  down  to  Uavid  Hume's 
father  through  many  generations.  Very  likely  they  dined  at 
Dunbar,  that  "  high  and  windy  town,"  and  thought,  as  they  crossed 
the  Brocksburn,  how  Cromwell's  horse  and  foot  charged  across  it 
in  the  mingled  light  of  the  harvest-moon  and  the  early  dawn  on 
that  September  morning  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  years  before. 
Their  next  stage  would  bring  them  to  Haddington,  past  the  ruined 
Abbey  where  nearly  a  hundred  years  later  that  great  Scotchman, 
Johnson's  foremost  champion,  was  often  with  a  contrite  and  almost 
broken  heart  to  seek  his  wife's  grave  in  the  desolate  chancel.  As 
they  drove  on  they  passed  by  the  wide  plain,  shut  in  by  the  sea  on 
one  side  and  by  a  morass  on  the  other,  over  which,  only  twenty-eight 

1  Boswell's  fohnson,  ii.  453.  paid  at  the  turnpikes  amounted  to  a  considerable 
"  The  charge  for  a  chaise  and  pair  was  nine-  sum  in  a  long  journey.  The  duty  was  sub- 
pence  a  mile  ;  in  some  districts  more.  There  sequently  increased.  See  Mostyn  Armstrong's 
was  a  duty  on  each  horse  of  one  penny  per  mile.  Actual  Survey,  etc.,  p.  4,  and  Paterson's  liritish 
The  driver  expected  a  shilling  or  eighteen  pence  Itinerary,  vol.  i.  preface,  p.  vii. 
for  each  stage  of  ten  or  twelve  miles,  and  always  3  See  the  Table  of  Weather  in  the  Gentleman's 
found  good  reasons  for  asking  for  more.  The  tolls  Magazine  tot  1774,  p.  290. 


THE    ROAD    TO    EDINBURGH.  69 

years  earlier,  on  another  misty  morning  in  September,  the  rude 
Highlanders  had  chased  Cope's  English  Dragoons  in  shameful 
and  headlong  flight.  Evening  had  overtaken  the  travellers  by  this 
time,  so  that  they  could  not  have  seen  "the  one  solitary  thorn  bush 
round  which  lay  the  greatest  number  of  slain,"  or  the  grey  tower 
of  the  church  of  Preston  Pans,  whence  the  afternoon  before  the 
battle,  young  Alexander  Carlyle  had  looked  down  upon  the  two 
armies.1  They  passed  Pinkie,  where  the  Protector  Somerset's 
soldiers  had  made  such  a  savage  massacre  of  the  routed  Scotch ; 
and  Carberry  Hill,  where  Mary  took  her  last  farewell  of  Both  well 
as  she  gave  herself  up  to  the  Scottish  lords.  They  passed,  too,  the 
serfs  of  Tranent  and  Preston  Pans,  "  the  colliers  and  salters  who 
were  in  a  state  of  slavery  and  bondage,  bound  to  the  collieries  or 
salt-works  for  life."  : 

Entering  Edinburgh  by  the  road  which  goes  near  Holy  rood 
House,  and  driving  along  the  Canongate,  they  alighted  at  the 
entrance  to  White  Horse  Close,  at  the  end  of  which  stood  the 
White  Horse  Inn.  The  sign,  the  crest  of  the  house  of  Hanover, 
had  probably  been  adopted  on  the  accession  of  George  I.,  and 
was  a  proof  of  loyalty  to  the  reigning  family.  In  London  in 
the  year  1761  there  were  forty-nine  alleys,  lanes  and  yards  which 
were  so  called/'  It  was,  however,  said  that  the  name  had  been 
given  as  a  memorial  of  a  white  horse  which,  by  winning  a 
race  on  Leith  Sands,  had  saved  its  master,  the  inn-keeper,  from 
ruin.4  According  to  the  Scotch  custom  the  inn  was  generally 
known  not  by  its  sign,  but  by  the  name  of  its  landlord.5  Thus 
Boswell  calls  this  house  Boyd's  Inn.  In  the  Edinburgh  Directory 
for  1773-4  we  find  under  the  letter  13,  at  the  head  of  the  Stablers, 
"  Boyd,  James,  canongate  head."  In  the  present  time,  when  an  inn, 
however  small,  assumes  the  dignified  title  of  Hotel,  we  may  admire 
the  modesty  of  these  Edinburgh  innkeepers,  not  one  of  whom 
pretended  to  be  anything  more  than  a  stabler.  In  fact  they 
scarcely  deserved  any  higher  name ;  their  houses  were  on  a  level 

1  Dr.  Alexander  Carlyle's  Autobiography,  p.  the  White   Horse    Inn,   Piccadilly,   was  kicked 

137.     The  tree  still  remains  the  solitary  memo-  out  of  a  feast  of  the   Independent   Electors  of 

rial  of  the  fight.  Westminster,  because  he  was  discovered  to  be 

*  It   was  not  till   1799  that  by  39  Geo.  III.  taking  notes  of  some  Jacobite  toasts.      Gentle- 

c.  56,  they  were  declared  free.     Cockburn's  Me-  man's  Magazine  for  1747,  p.  151. 
mortals,  p.  78,  and  BoswelPs  Johnson,  iii.  202,  4  Chambers's    Traditions    of  Edinburgh,    p. 

».  I.  190. 

3  Dodsley's  London  and  its  Environs,  vi.  316.  5   Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1771,  P-  544- 

In  March,  1747,  one  Mr.  Williams,  master  of 


7o  THE    WHlTK    HORSE    INN. 

with  the  inn  at  Rochester  where  the  two  carriers  in  Falstaff's  time 
passed  so  restloss  a  night.  A  traveller  who  had  stayed  in  this  house 
a  year  or  two  before  Johnson's  visit,  described  it  as  being  "  crowded 
and  confused.  The  master  lives  in  the  stable,  the  mistress  is  not 
equal  to  the  business.  You  must  not  expect  breakfast  before  nine 
o'clock,  and  you  must  think  yourself  happy  if  you  do  not  find  every 


WHITE    HORSE   CLOSE. 


room  fresh  mopped."  The  date  of  1683  inscribed  upon  the  large 
window  above  the  outside  steps,2  .showed  that  even  in  Johnson's 
time  it  was  an  old  house.  For  the  whole  of  the  eighteenth  century 
it  was  one  of  the  chief  starting  places  for  the  stage-coaches.  It 
sank  later  on  into  a  carrier's  inn,  says  Sir  Walter  Scott,  "  and  has 
since  been  held  unworthy  even  of  that  occupation.  It  was  a  base 
hovel."  Yet  James  Boyd,  who  kept  it,  retired  with  a  fortune 

1  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1771,  p.  543.  Edinburgh,  p.  187,  says  that  "the  date  is  de- 

*  J.   and   H.'s  Storer's  Descriptions  of  Hdin-       ficient  in  the  decimal  figure  16 — 3." 
burgh.       Dr.    Chambers,    in   his    Traditions  of          3  Croker's  Bonvell,  8vo.  ed.  p.  270. 


THE    WHITK    HORSE    INN.  71 

of  several  thousand  pounds.  That  he:  possessed  napery  to  the  value 
of  five  hundred  pounds  is  stated  by  Chambers  to  be  a  well-authen- 
ticated fact.  "  A  large  room  in  the  house  was  the  frequent  scene  of 
the  marriages  of  runaway  English  couples.  On  one  of  the  windows 
were  scratched  the  words  : 

'Jeremiah  and  Sarah  Bentham,  1768.'"' 

It  was  from  this  miserable  inn  that  Johnson,  on  August  i4th, 
sent  the  following  note  to  Boswell's  house  : 

"  Mr.  Johnson   sends  his  compliments  to  Mr.   Jioswell,  being  just  arrived  at 
Boyd's. 

"  Saturday  night." 

Boswell  went  to  him  directly,  and  learnt  from  Scott  that  "  the 
Doctor  had  unluckily  had  a  bad  specimen  of  Scottish  cleanliness. 
He  then  drank  no  fermented  liquor.  He  asked  to  have  his 
lemonade  made  sweeter  ;  upon  which  the  waiter,  with  his  greasy 
fingers,  lifted  a  lump  of  sugar,  and  put  it  into  it.  The  Doctor,  in 
indignation,  threw  it  out  of  the  window.  Scott  said  he  was  afraid 
that  he  would  have  knocked  the  waiter  down."  Boswell  at  once 
carried  off  Johnson- to  his  own  house.  Scott  he  left  behind  with 
the  sincere  regret  that  he  had  not  also  a  room  for  him.  Could  the 
future  eminence  of  the  great  judge  have  been  foreseen,  or  had  his 
"  amiable  manners"  been  generally  known,  surely  some  one  would 
have  been  found  eager  to  welcome  him  as  a  guest  and  rescue  him 
from  the  Canongate  Stabler.  "He  was  one  of  the  pleasantest  men 
I  ever  knew,"  wrote  Sir  Walter  Scott,  fifty-five  years  later,  when 
he  met  him  at  a  dinner  at  Richmond  Park,  "  looking  very  frail  and 
even  comatose."  He  lived  some  while  longer,  and  did  not  die 
till  the  memory  of  this  jaunt,  and  of  everything  else  had  been  lost 
in  the  forgetfulness  in  which  his  mind  sank  beneath  the  burthen  of 
fourscore  years  and  ten."  Let  us  hope  that  on  his  first  visit  to 
Edinburgh,  like  Matthew  Bramble,  "  he  got  decent  lodgings  in  the 
house  of  a  widow  gentlewoman." 

1  Chambevs's  Tiaditions  of  Edinburgh,  p.  191.  thirteen  baronets,  and  four  commanders-in-chief. 

Perhaps  this  was  Jeremy  Uentham's  father,  who  The  Edinburgh  Directory  for   1773-4  contains, 

two   years  earlier  had   married   for  the   second  however,  the  names  of  only  about  a  dozen  peers 

time  :  what  was  his  wife's  Christian  name  I  have  and  peeresses. 

not  been  able  to  ascertain.     The  son  did  not  a  Lock  hart's  Lift- of  Scott,  ix.  244. 

visit  Edinburgh  in   1768.      Dr.   Chambers  gives  :>  He  died  on  January  28,  1836. 

on  p.  318  a  list  of  the  great  people  living  in  the  '  Ilumpliiy  Clinkfi;  ii.  224.     Lodging-house 

Canongate  about  the  year  1769.     According  to  keepers  are  entered  in  the  Edinburgh  Directory 

it   there   were   two   dukes,    sixteen    earls,    two  as    Room-Setters    and   Boarders.       Some   were 

countesses,  seven  barons,  seven  lords  of  session,  both,  others  only  Room-Setters. 


72 


THE   WHITE    HORSE    INN. 


The  old  inn  still  stands,  ;i  picturesque  ruin  and  an  interesting 
memorial  of  the  discomfort  of  a  long  race  of  wandering  strangers. 
No  one  here  ever  repeated  with  emotion,  either  great  or  small, 
Shenstone's  lines  : 

"  Whoe'er  has  travelled  life's  dull  round, 

Where'er  his  stages  may  have  been, 
May  sigh  to  think  lie  still  has  found 

The  warmest  welcome  at  an  inn."' 

With  a.  little  care  it  could  have  been  made  a.  place  where  "  a  man 
might  take  his  ease  in  his  inn,"  for  it  stood  aloof  from  the  noise  of 
the  street,  was  well-built  and  was  sufficiently  roomy.  An  outside 
stone  staircase,  Which  after  a  few  steps  turned  right  and  left,  led  up 
to  the  first  iloor,  where  doubtless,  according  to  the  common  Scotch 
custom,  the  principal  rooms  were  placed.  With  its  turrets  and  its 
gables  it  must  have  looked  pleasant  enough  to  the  young  runaway 
couples  as  they  hurried  in  from  the  Canongate,  and  passed  the  out- 
side staircases  and  open  galleries  of  the  houses  on  each  side  of  the 
Close,  and  so  went  up  to  the  large  room  where  many  a  name  was 
scratched  with  a  diamond  ring  on  the  pane.  "  And  they  are  gone," 
gone  like  the  lovers  of  St.  Agnes'  Eve.2 


JAMES'S  COURT. 

"  Boswell,"  wrote  Johnson  to  Mrs.  Thrale,  "  has  very  handsome 
and  spacious  rooms  ;  level  with  the  ground  on  one  side  of  the 
house,  and  on  the  other  four  stories  high."  At  this  time,  he  was 
living  in  James's  Court,  on  the  northern  side  of  the  Lawnmarket, 
having  lately  removed  from  Chessel's  Buildings  in  the  Canongate. 
It  is  not  easy  for  the  stranger  who  passes  from  the  thronged  street 
under  the  low  archway  into  that  quiet,  but  gloomy,  and  even 
shabby-looking  court,  to  picture  to  himself  the  gay  and  lively 
company  which  once  frequented  it.  Now  ragged,  bare-footed 


1  Johnson  repeated  these  lines  with  great 
emotion  at  the  excellent  inn  at  Chapel-Mouse  in 
Oxfordshire.  Boswell's_/flAKJO»,  ii.  452. 

"  Since  writing  the  above  I  have  learnt  with 
great  pleasure  that  this  interesting  but  ruinous 
old  building  will  not  only  be  preserved,  but  pre- 
served to  good  uses.  It  has  been  purchased  by 
Dr.  A.  II.  F.  Harbour  and  his  sister  Mrs.  Whyte, 
and  by  them  presented  to  the  Edinburgh  Social 


Union.  It  will  be  put  into  a  state  of  thorough 
repair,  and  let  out  (o  poor  tenants  on  the  plan 
followed  by  Miss  Octavia  Hill  in  London.  I 
am  informed  that  the  two  sides  of  the  Close  had 
been  repaired  by  the  Social  Union  before  my 
visit,  and  that  the  pleasant  outside  staircases 
and  open  galleries  which  caught  my  eye  were 
its  work. 


JAMES'S   COURT. 


73 


hanging    out 
garments    of 


children  are  playing  about ;  in  some  of  the  windows  there  are  broken 
and  patched  panes  of  glass,  while  high  above  one's  head,  from  the 
different  storeys,  are 

to    dry 

various 

sorts  and  hues,  on  a 
curious  kind  of  frame- 
work, let  down  by  a 
pulley  and  string,  till 
it  stands  out  square 
from  the  wall.  Some 
of  the  houses  are 
coloured  with  a  yel- 
low wash,  in  others 
the  stones  round  the 
windows  and  at  the 
corners  are  painted 
red.  The  uncoloured 
stone  is  a  grey  dark- 
ened by  years  of 
smoke.  The  lower 
windows  are  guarded 
by  iron  gratings.  On 
the  southern,  or  Lawn- 
market  side,  a  block  of 
building  juts  out,  and 
makes  a  division  in 
the  Court.  This  pro- 
jection looks  as  an- 
cient as  any  part,  and 
was  doubtless  there  in 
those  old  days  when 
the  place  was  inha- 
bited by  a  select  set 
of  gentlemen,  "  who  JAMES,S  COURT. 

kept  a  clerk  to  record 

their  names  and  proceedings,  had  a  scavenger  of  their  own,  clubbed 
in  many  public  measures,  and  had  balls  and  assemblies  among  them- 
selves." ]  It  must  have  pleasantly  recalled  to  Boswell  the  chambers 

1  Clmmbers's  Traditions  of  Edinburgh,  p.  68. 


74  JAMES'S   COURT. 

which  had  been  lent  him  in  the  Temple  that  summer  in  which  he 
first  became  acquainted  with  Johnson,  for  it,  too,  was  a  nest  of 
lawyers.  There  were  inhabiting  it  at  this  time  thirteen  advocates, 
among  them  Lord  Elibank,  seven  Writers  to  the  Signet  and  Clerks 
of  Session,  a  Commissioner,  and  two  first  clerks  of  advocates.  The 
other  householders  were  only  six  in  number  :  two  physicians,  one  of 
whom  was  Sir  John  Pringle,1  the  President  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
London,  a  teller  in  the  Old  Bank,  a  teacher  of  French,  a  dancing- 
mistress,  and  a  gentlewoman.  Pringle,  who  was  Boswell's  intimate 
friend,  was  one  of  "  the  three  topics  "  which  he  begged  Johnson  to 
avoid  at  his  father's  house — Presbyterianism  and  Whiggism  being 
the  other  two.  If  any  one  of  these  subjects  were  introduced  an 
altercation  was  certain  to  follow,  for  all  three  were  as  dear  to  Lord 
Auchinleck  as  they  were  distasteful  to  Johnson.  Here  Hume  had 
lived  till  very  lately  in  a  house  "  which  was  very  cheerful  and  even 
elegant,  but  was  too  small,"  he  complained,  "  to  display  his  great 
talents  for  cookery."  Nevertheless  it  had  been  the  one  spot  to 
which,  when  abroad,  his  heart  untravelled  had  fondly  turned. 
Even  in  the  palace  at  Fontainebleau,  while  fresh  from  the  flattery 
of  the  three  young  princes  who  were  in  turn  to  be  kings  of  France, 
in  this  high  tide  of  his  fortune  it  was  for  "  his  easy-chair  and  his 
retreat  in  James's  Court  that  twice  or  thrice  a  day"  he  longed. 
Here  he  had  welcomed  Benjamin  Franklin,  here  Adam  Smith  had 
been  his  frequent  guest,  and  here  he  had  offered  a  shelter  to 
Rousseau.  In  his  absence  from  Edinburgh  Dr.  Blair  had  been 
his  tenant,  and  here,  no  doubt,  had  written  some  of  those  sermons 
and  lectures  which  were  to  attain  so  wide  a  popularity,  and  then 
to  sink  into  as  deep  a  neglect.  The  time  once  was  when  Blair's 
shrine  would  have  drawn  a  crowd  of  pilgrims. 

Hume  and  Boswell  had  for  a  short  time  been  very  near  neigh- 
bours, as  it  was  in  the  same  block  of  buildings  2  that  they  lived. 
If  the  elder  man  had  entertained  the  American  patriot,  Franklin, 
the  younger  had  entertained  the  Corsican  patriot,  Pascal  Paoli. 
He  could  boast,  moreover,  of  the  distinguished  guests  who  thronged 
his  house  during  Johnson's  two  visits,  both  at  his  first  coming  and 

1  Pringle  seems  to  have  kept  on  a  house  in  Hume  had  once   lived  in  Jack's  Land,  in  the 
Edinburgh   though  he  was    for   the   most   part  Canongate.     A  land  of  thirteen  stories,  such  as 
living   at   this   time    in    London.     See  Hume's  was  shown  to  Johnson  at  the  foot  of  the  Post- 
Lelters  to  Strahan,  p.  117.  house  Stairs  would  contain  twenty-six  houses — 

2  The   Scotch  called  each   set   of  rooms   on  two  on  every  floor, 
every  floor  a  house,  and  each  block  a  land.   Thus 


JAMES'S    COURT.  75 

on  his  return  from  the  Hebrides.  Judges,  and  advocates  who 
were  destined  one  day  to  sit  on  the  bench,  the  Deputy  Commander- 
in-Chief,  men  and  women  of  high  birth,  authors,  divines,  physicians, 
all  came  to  see  and  hear  the  famous  Englishman.  We  can  picture 
to  ourselves  the  sedan-chairs  passing  in  under  the  low  gateway, 
bearing  the  fine  ladies  and  gentlemen  who  came  to  attend  "  the 
Icvfc  which  he  held  from  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  till  one  or  two." 
The  echo  of  the  strong  loud  voice  with  the  slow  deliberate 
utterance  still  almost  seems  to  sound  in  our  ears  as  we  wander 
about  in  this  dreary  spot.  "  I  could  not  attend  him,"  writes 
Boswell,  "  being  obliged  to  be  in  the  Court  of  Session  ;  but  my 
wife  was  so  good  as  to  devote  the  greater  part  of  the  morning  to 
the  endless  task  of  pouring  out  tea  for  my  friend  and  his  visitors." 
More  than  one  caller,  as  he  gazed  on  the  huge  frame,  the 
scarred  face,  and  the  awkward  strange  movements  of  the  man  of 
whom  they  had  heard  so  much,  might  have  exclaimed  with  Lord 
Elibank,  that  "  hardly  anything  seemed  more  improbable  than  to 
see  Dr.  Johnson  in  Scotland."  What  Edinburgh  said  and  thought 
of  him  we  should  greatly  like  to  know.  But  no  letters  recording 
his  visit  seem  to  be  extant.  Even  the  very  house  has  disappeared. 
Time,  which  has  spared  everything  else  in  this  old  Court,  has  not 
spared  it.  More  than  thirty  years  ago  it  was  burnt  to  the  ground. 
We  should  have  liked  to  wander  about  the  rooms,  and  wonder 
which  was  the  bedchamber  that  Mrs.  Boswell,  "to  show  all  respect 
to  the  Sage,"  so  politely  resigned  to  him  ;  and  where  it  was  that 
Veronica,  that  precocious  babe  of  four  months,  by  wishing  "  to  be 
held  close  to  him,  gave  a  proof  from  simple  nature  that  his  figure 
was  not  horrid."  Where,  we  should  have  asked,  was  the  dinner 
given  him  at  which  Mrs.  Boswell  did  her  best  "to  aid  wisdom 
and  wit  by  administering  agreeable  sensations  to  the  palate "  ? 
Where,  too,  were  the  carpets  spread  on  which  he  let  the  wax  of 
the  candles  drop,  by  turning  them  with  their  heads  downwards 
when  they  did  not  burn  bright  enough  ?  In  what  closet  did 
Boswell  keep  his  books,  whence  on  Sunday,  with  pious  purpose, 
Johnson  took  down  Ogden's  Sermons,  and  retired  with  them  to  his 
own  room  ?  They  did  not,  however,  detain  him  long,  and  he  soon 
rejoined  the  company.  Which  was  the  breakfast-room  where  Sir 
William  Forbes  introduced  to  him  the  blind  scholar  and  poet, 
Dr.  Blacklock  ?  "  Dear  Dr.  Blacklock,  I  am  glad  to  see  you,"  he 
said,  with  a  most  humane  complacency.  "  I  looked  on  him  with 


76  JAMES'S    COURT. 

reverence,"  lie  wrote  to  Mrs.  Thrale.  It  has  all  utterly  passed  away  ; 
Forbes  himself  has  been  Sir  Walter  Scott's  "lamented  Forbes"  ' 
for  more  than  fourscore  years.  All  has  passed  away  ;  not  only  the  talk 
about  Burke,  and  Garrick,  and  Hume,  and  Whitefield,  and  genius, 
and  witchcraft,  and  the  comparative  difficulty  of  verse-making  and 
dictionary-making  ;  but  even  the  very  walls  which  might  have 
caught  it  in  its  echoes.  Where  this  famous  old  house  once  stood 
now  stands  a  modern  bank,  contrasting  but  ill  in  its  more  elaborate 
architecture  with  the  severe,  and  even  stern,  simplicity  of  the 
ancient  buildings.  Nevertheless  we  are  at  no  loss  to  picture  to 
ourselves  the  home  of  Hume  and  Boswell.  Their  land  occupied 
one  half  of  the  northern  side  of  the  Court ;  the  other  half,  which 
no  doubt  corresponded  with  it  in  almost  every  respect,  happily 
escaped  the  flames.  It  is  so  solidly  built  that  if  it  is  spared  by  the 
rage  of  fire  and  of  modern  improvement,  it  has  little  to  fear  from 
time.  Its  situation,  looking  down  as  it  does  with  its  northern 
front  on  the  Mound,  and  the  pleasant  gardens  in  the  valley  below, 
has  kept  it  from  sinking  in  public  estimation  so  much  as  most  of 
the  neighbouring  buildings.  It  has  indeed  seen  better  clays,  but  it 
has  not  lost  all  the  outward  signs  of  respectability  ;  its  panes  are 
neither  broken  nor  patched.  The  ground-floor,  which  was,  we  may 
assume,  on  the  same  plan  as  Boswell's  house,  is  occupied  by  a  book- 
binder,2 who  courteously  showed  me  all  over  it.  There  were  traces 
left  in  this  busy  workshop  of  past  splendour,  and  I  could  see 
how  handsome  and  spacious  the  rooms  had  once  been.  In  the 
windows  were  deep  recesses,  where  it  must  have  been  pleasant 
enough  on  a  bright  summer's  day  to  sit  in  the  cool  shade  and  look 
out  over  the  heads  of  the  elm  trees  waving  below,  across  the 
sparkling  waters  of  the  Forth,  on  the  hills  of  Fife  in  the  far  distance. 
A  stone  staircase,  furnished  with  iron  gates,  led  clown  from  the 
level  of  the  Court  to  the  street  four  storeys  below,  where  the  foun- 
dations of  this  lofty  pile  are  laid  in  the  rock.  The  staircase  had 
its  occupant,  for  at  one  of  the  windows  a  mat-maker  was  busy  at 
his  trade.3 

There  is  no  memorial  to  remind  passers-by  of  the  men  who  have 
made  James's  Court  so  famous.  The  stranger,  as  he  climbs  up  the 
Lawnmarket  to  the  Castle,  is  little  likely  to  notice  the  obscure 

1  Marmion.     Introduction  to  Canto  iv.  3  For   my  authorities  for  some  of  the  state - 

a  Mr.  Alexander  Grieve.     I  find  a  bookbinder  ments  in  this  note  see  my  Letters  of  David  Hume 

of  the  same  name  living  in  Bell's  Wynd  in  1773.  to  ll'illiaiu  Strahan,  pp.  116-9. 

Edinburgh  Directory  for  1773-4,  Appendix,  p.  5. 


MEMORIALS    OF    GREAT    MEN.  77 

archway  through  which  so  gay  and  bright  and  learned  a  company 
was  ever  passing  to  and  fro.  In  the  public  gardens  Allan  Ramsay, 
John  Wilson  and  Adam  Black  have  each  their  statue.  Viscount 
Melville's  column  lifts  its  head  in  St.  Andrew's  Square,  far  above 
David  Hume's  modest  house,  and  in  its  inscription,  in  all  prob- 
ability, lies.  The  virtues  and  the  glories  of  George  IV.  are  lavishly 
commemorated.  Even  good  Queen  Charlotte  is  not  suffered  to 
be  forgotten.  In  Chambers  Street  the  name  of  the  founder  of 
Chambers  Journal  is  meant  to  live.  On  the  finest  site  in  all 
Edinburgh  the  insignificance  of  the  fifth  Duke  of  Buccleugh  will 
•struggle  for  immortality.  We  look  in  vain  for  the  statue  of  David 
Hume,  of  Adam  Smith,  and  of  James  Boswell.  What  street,  what 
square,  what  bridge  bear  their  names  ?  Where  does  Edinburgh 
proudly  boast  to  the  stranger  that  she  is  the  birth  place  of  the 
philosopher  whose  name  is  great  in  the  history  of  the  world,  and 
of  the  biographer  whose  work  has  never  been  equalled  ?  W'here 
does  she  make  it  known  that  to  her  ancient  city  the  author  of  the 
Wealth  of  Nations  retired  to  spend  the  closing  years  of  his  life  and 
to  die  ?  If  no  nobler  monuments  can  be  raised,  surely  some  bronze 
tablet  or  graven  stone  might  keep  fresh  the  memory  of  the  spot 
where  Adam  Smith  had  his  chamber,  where  Benjamin  Franklin 
came  to  visit  David  Hume,  where  Rousseau  was  offered  a  shelter, 
and  where  James  Boswell's  guests  were  Pascal  Paoli  and  Samuel 
Johnson. 


A  STROLL  THROUGH  EDINBURGH. 

It  was  in  good  company  that  Johnson,  on  the  morning  of 
Monday,  August  16,  "  walked  out  to  see  some  of  the  things  which 
they  had  to  show  in  Edinburgh,"  for  he  was  under  the  guidance  of 
the  historian  of  Scotland.  "  I  love  Robertson,"  Johnson  had  said 
a  few  years  earlier,  "and  I  won't  talk  of  his  book."  If  Boswell 
had  reported  any  part  of  this  saying  we  may  hope  that  it  was  only 
the  first  half,  for  he  who  neglects  the  author  makes  but  a  poor 
recompense  by  loving  the  man.  At  all  events,  Robertson  was  not 
troubled  with  diffidence,  for  at  Holyrood  "  he  fluently  harangued  " 
his  companion  on  the  scenes  described  in  his  History.  No  doubt 
he  told  many  of  those  anecdotes  for  which  Johnson  that  morning 


78  THE    LAWNMARKET. 

had  declared  his  love  as  they  breakfasted  togetlur,  and  look  care  not 
to  attempt  "  to  weave  them  into  a  system."  As  they  passed  into  the 
Lawn  market  they  had  not  before  them  that  wide  expanse  which  in 
the  present  day  makes  so  noble  an  end  to  the  High  Street. 
The  view  was  obstructed  by  the  Weigh  House,  the  Lucken- 
booths,  the  Tolbooth,  anil  the  Guard  House.1  At  the  Weigh 
House  the  boast,  perhaps,  was  made  that  so  great  was  the 
trade  of  the  town  that  the  public  weighing-machine  which  was 
there  kept  brought  in  no  less  than  a  sum  of  ,£500  every  year. 
At  the  Tolbooth  and  the  Guard  House,  that  "  long  low  ugly 
building,"  which  looked  like  "  a  black  snail  crawling  up  the  High 
Street,"1'  something,  perhaps,  was  said  of  the  Porteous  riots.  But 
the  real  story  of  the  Heart  of  Mid- Lothian  could  only  have  been 
told  them  by  that  little  child  of  scarce  two  years  in  the  College 
Wynd,  how  the  wild  mob  on  that  September  night,  seven-and-thirty 
years  before,  burnt  down  the  massive  gate  of  the  jail,  and  dragged 
their  wretched  prisoner  by  torchlight  to  the  gallows,  and  how  Jeanie 
Deans  could  not  tell  a  lie  even  to  save  her  sister  from  a  shameful 
death.  There  was  no  one  but  this  bright-eyed  boy  who  could  have 
even  pointed  out  in  the  Luckenbooths  the  stall  where  poor  Peter 
Peebles  and  Paul  Plainstanes  had  for  years  carried  on  "  that  great 
line  of  business  as  mercers  and  linendrapers,"  which  in  the  end  led 
to  a  lawsuit  that  is  famous  all  the  world  over.  Having  no  one  to 
tell  them  of  all  this  they  passed  on  through  Parliament  Close, 
"  which  new-fangled  affectation  has  termed  a  square," :!  to  the 
Parliament  House,  which  still  showed  "  the  grave  grey  hue  that 
had  been  breathed  over  it  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,"  and 
which  was  still  free  from  the  disgrace  of  "  bright  freestone  anil 
contemptible  decorations."  The  "  sorrow  and  indignation,"  which 
the  restorer's  wanton  changes  aroused  troubled  a  later  generation.' 
Here  it  was  that  the  Court  of  Session  sat,  the  High  Court  of  Justice 
of  Scotland.  It  was  in  these  August  days  empty  of  lawyers,  for  the 
Vacation  had  just  begun  ;  but  Johnson  on  his  return  saw  it  also  in 
term  time,  and  thought  "the  pleading  too  vehement  and  too  much 
addressed  to  the  passions  of  the  judges.  It  was  not  the  Areopagus," 
he  said.  Here  Henry  Erskine,  the  brother  of  the  famous  Chan- 
cellor, slipped  a  shilling  into  Boswell's  hands,  who  had  introduced 

1  See  ante,  p.  52.  '  Cockburn's  Memorials,  p.    106,  and  Heart 

'*  Heart  of  Mid-Lothian,  ed.  1860,  i.  247.  of  Mid-Lotluan,  ii.  117. 

3  Redgauntlet,  ed.  1860,  i.  253. 


PARLIAMENT    HOUSE.  79 

him  to  Johnson,  saying  that  it  was  for  the  sight  of  his  bear,  and 
here  Lord  Auchinleck,  seeing  the  great  man  enter,  whispered  to 
one  of  his  brethren  on  the  Bench  that  it  was  Ursa  Major.  In  the 
Outer  Hall  had  once  sat  the  ancient  Parliament  of  Scotland.  Here 
it  was  that  Lord  Belhaven,  at  perhaps  its  last  meeting,  made  that 
pathetic  speech  which  drew  tears  from  the  audience.  Here  every 
day  during  term  time  there  was  a  very  Babel  of  a  Court  of  Justice. 
Like  Westminster  Hall  of  old  it  was  the  tribunal  of  many  judges, 
as  well  as  the  gathering  ground  of  advocates,  solicitors,  suitors, 
witnesses,  and  idlers  in  general.  Here  it  was  that  "the  Macer 
shouted  with  all  his  well-remembered  brazen  strength  of  lungs  : 
"  Poor  Peter  Peebles  versus  Plainstanes,  per  Dumtoustie  et  Tough  : 
— Maister  Da-a-niel  Dumtoustie."  Here  it  was  that  a  famous  but 
portly  wag  of  later  days,  "  Peter  "  Robinson,  seeing  Scott  with  his 
tall  conical  white  head  passing  through,  called  out  to  the  briefless 
crowd  about  the  fire-place,  "  Hush,  boys,  here  comes  old  Peveril  — 
I  see  the  Peak."  Scott  looked  round  and  replied,  "  Ay,  ay,  my 
man,  as  weel  Peveril  o'  the  Peak  ony  clay  as  Peter  o'  the  Painch  " 
(paunch).1  Here  Thomas  Carlyle,  a  student  of  the  University, 
not  yet  fourteen  years  old,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  November  day 
on  which  he  first  saw  Edinburgh,  "  was  dragged  in  to  a  scene  " 
which  he  never  forgot : 

"  An  immense  hall,  dimly  lighted  from  the  top  of  the  walls,  and  perhaps  with 
candles  burning  in  it  here  and  there,  all  in  strange  chiaroscuro,  and  filled  with  what 
I  thought  (exaggeratively)  a  thousand  or  two  of  human  creatures,  all  astir  in  a 
boundless  buzz  of  talk,  and  simmering  about  in  every  direction,  some  solitary,  some 
in  groups.  By  degrees  I  noticed  th;it  some  were  in  wig  and  black  gown,  some  not, 
but  in  common  clothes,  all  well  dressed  ;  that  here  and  there  on  the  sides  of  the 
hall,  were  little  thrones  with  enclosures,  and  steps  leading  up,  red-velvet  figures 
sitting  in  said  thrones,  and  the  black-gowned  eagerly  speaking  to  them  ;  advocates 
pleading  to  judges  as  I  easily  understood.  How  they  could  be  heard  in  such  a 
grinding  din  was  somewhat  a  mystery.  Higher  up  on  the  walls,  stuck  there  like 
swallows  in  their  nests,  sate  other  humbler  figures.  These  I  found  were  the  sources 
of  certain  wildly  plangent  lamentable  kinds  of  sounds  or  echoes  which  from  time  to 
time  pierced  the  universal  noise  of  feet  and  voices,  and  rose  unintelligibly  above  it, 
as  if  in  the  bitterness  of  incurable  woe.  Criers  of  the  Court,  I  gradually  came  to 
understand.  And  this  was  Themis  in  her  '  Outer  House,'  such  a  scene  of  chaotic 
din  and  hurlyburly  as  I  had  never  figured  before."  2 

Here  every  year,  on  the  evening  of  the  King's  birthday,  there 
was  a  scene  of  loyal  riot.  At  the  cost  of  the  city  funds,  some  fifteen 
hundred  guests,  on  the  invitation  of  the  magistrates,  "  roaring, 

1   Lockhart's  Scott,  vii.  124.  *  Reminiscences,  by  Thomas  Carlylo,  ii.  5. 


So  PARLIAMENT    HOUSE. 

drinking,  toasting,  and  quarrelling,"  drank  the  royal  healths  to  a 
late  hour  of  the  night.  "  The  wreck  and  the  fumes  of  that  hot 
and  scandalous  night"  tainted  the  air  of  the  Court  for  a  whole 
week.1  From  the  Hall  our  travellers  passed  into  the  Inner  House, 
where  the  fifteen  judges  sat  together  as  "  a  Court  of  Review." 
Like  Carlyle,  Johnson  saw  •'  great  Law  Lords  this  and  that,  great 
advocates,  alors  cclcbrcs,  as  Thiers  has  it."  There  were  Hailes,  and 
Kames,  and  Monboddo,  on  the  Bench,  and  Henry  Dundas,  Solicitor 
General.  The  judges  wore  long  robes  of  scarlet  faced  with  white, 
but  though  their  dignity  was  great,  their  salaries  were  small  when 
compared  with  those  paid  to  their  brethren  in  Westminster  Hall. 
The  President  had  but  ,£1.300  a  year,  and  each  of  the  fourteen 
Lords  of  Session  but  £700.  Six  of  them,  among  whom  was 
Boswell's  father,  received  each  ^300  more  as  a  Commissioner  of 
Justiciary."  The  room,  or  rather  "den,"  in  which  they  sat,  "was 
so  cased  in  venerable  dirt  that  it  was  impossible  to  say  whether  it 
had  ever  been  painted.  Dismal  though  the  hole  was,  the  old 
fellows  who  had  been  bred  there  never  looked  so  well  anywhere 
else."  3 

In  the  same  great  pile  of  buildings  as  the  Law  Courts  is  the 
Advocates'  Library,  "of  which  Dr.  Johnson  took  a  cursory  view." 
He,  no  doubt,  "  respectfully  remembered  "  there  its  former  librarian, 
Thomas  Ruddiman,  "that  excellent  man  and  eminent  scholar," just 
as  he  remembered  him  a  few  days  later  at  Laurencekirk,  the  scene 
of  his  labours  as  a  schoolmaster.  Perhaps  a  second  time  he 
"regretted  that  his  farewell  letter  to  the  Faculty  of  Advocates  when 
he  resigned  the  office  of  their  Librarian,  was  not,  as  it  should  have 
been,  in  Latin."  According  to  Rudcliman's  successor,  David  Hume, 
it  was  but  "a  petty  office  of  forty  or  fifty  guineas  a  year,"  yet 
"  a  genteel  one  "  too.  When  that  great  writer  came  to  write  his 
letter  of  resignation,  he  used  the  curtest  of  English,  and  took  care  to 
express  his  contempt  for  the  Curators.  Two  or  three  years  earlier 
they  had  censured  him  for  buying  some  French  books,  which  they 
accounted  "  indecent  and  unworthy  of  a  place  in  a  learned  library," 
and  he  had  not  forgiven  them.4  It  was  in  the  Laigh  (or  Under) 
Parliament  House  beneath,  in  which  at  this  time  were  deposited 
the  records  of  Scotland,  that  Johnson,  "  rolling  about  in  this  old 

1  Cockburn's  Memorials,  p.  69.  separate  chambers.     Cockburn's  memorials,  pp. 

2  Court  and  City  Register  for  1769,  p.  142.  loo,  244. 

'  From  1808  the  judges  began  to  sit  in  two  4  Hume's  Letters  to  Strahan,  p.  xxvi. 


ST.    GILES'S    CHURCH.  Si 

magazine  of  antiquities,"  uttered  those  memorable  words  which 
have  overcome  the  reluctance  or  the  indolence  of  many  an  author  : 
"  A  man  may  write  at  anytime  if  he  will  set  himself  doggedly  to  it." 
It  was  but  a  step  from  the  Parliament  House  to  the  great  church 
of  St.  Giles.  Perhaps  Johnson  went  round  by  the  eastern  end, 
and  mourned  over  the  fate  which  had  befallen  Dunedin's  Cross 
less  than  twenty  years  before.  A  full  century  and  more  was  to 
pass  away  before  "  the  work  of  the  Vandals  "  was  undone,  as  far  as 
it  could  be  undone,  by  the  pious  affection  of  one  of  the  greatest  of 
Scotchmen.'  Perhaps  he  turned  to  the  west,  and  passed,  little 
recking  it,  over  the  grave  of  John  Knox.  Even  Boswell,  Edin- 
burgh-born though  he  was,  did  not  know  where  the  great  Reformer 
lay  buried,  and  a  few  days  later  asked  where  the  spot  was.  "  '  1 
hope  in  the  highway,'  Dr.  Johnson  burst  out."  In  the  pavement 
of  Parliament  Close,  a  "  way  of  common  trade,"  a  small  stone  in- 
scribed "I.  K.  1572,"  marks  where  he  rests.  St.  Giles'  was  at 
this  time  "  divided  into  four  places  of  Presbyterian  worship. 
'  Come,'  said  Johnson  jocularly  to  Dr.  Robertson,  '  let  me  see  what 
was  once  a  church.'"  Writing  to  Mrs.  Thrale  the  next  day  he 
said :  "  I  told  Robertson  I  wished  to  see  the  cathedral  because  it 
had  once  been  a  church."  Its  "  original  magnificence,"  the  loss  of 
which  Boswell  justly  lamented,  has  been  partly  restored  by  the 
lavish  changes  of  late  years.  Nevertheless,  the  student  of  history 
may  in  his  turn  lament  that  in  this  restoration  there  has  of  necessity 
disappeared  much  that  was  interesting.  "There  was  swept  away, 
with  as  much  indifference  as  if  it  had  been  of  yesterday,  that  plain, 
square,  galleried  apartment,"  which,  as  the  meeting-place  of  the 
General  Assembly,  "  had  beheld  the  best  exertions  of  the  best  men 
in  the  Kingdom  ever  since  the  year  1640."  Jenny  Geddes  and 
her  stool,  moreover,  are  reluctant  to  answer  the  summons  of  the 
imagination  in  a  scene  which  she  herself  would  scarcely  have 
recognized.  Johnson  went  into  only  one  of  the  four  divisions,  the 
New,  or  the  High  Church,  as  it  was  beginning  to  be  called.  Here 
Blair  was  preaching  those  sermons  which  passed  through  editions 
almost  innumerable,  and  now  can  be  bought  in  their  calf  binding 
for  a  few  pence  at  almost  any  bookstall.  The  New  Church  was 
formed  out  of  the  ancient  choir.  In  it  were  ranged  the  seats  of 
the  King,  the  judges,  and  the  magistrates  of  the  city.  When 
Johnson  saw  it,  "  it  was  shamefully  dirty.  He  said  nothing  at  the 

1  Mr.  Gladstone  restored  it  in  1885.  2  Cockburn's  Life  of  Lord  Jeffrey,  i.  182. 

M 


82  SCOTCH    CHURCHES. 

time  ;  but  when  he  came  to  the  great  door  of  the  Royal  Infirmary, 
where  upon  a  board  was  this  inscription,  '  Clean  your  feet,'  he  turned 
about   slily   and   said,   '  There    is   no  occasion   for   putting   this  at 
the  doors  of  your  churches.1'       Pennant  also  had  noticed  "the 
slovenly  and  indecent  manner  in  which  Presbytery  kept  the  houses 
of  God.      In  many  parts  of  Scotland,"  he  said,  "our  Lord  seems 
still   to   be  worshipped  in  a  stable,   and  often  in  a  very  wretched 
one."  '     Nevertheless,    it  seemed    likely   that    some    improvement 
would   soon   be  made,  and  that  orthodoxy  and  dirt  would  not  be 
held  inseparable  companions.    In  one  or  two  highly  favoured  spots 
the  broom  and  scrubbing-brush  had,  perhaps,  already  made  their 
appearance  ;  for  according  to  Smollett  "the  good  people  of  Edin- 
burgh no  longer  thought  dirt  and  cobwebs  essential  to  the  house 
of  God."-     It  might  still  have  been  impossible  "for  the  united 
rhetoric  of  mankind  to  prevail  with  Jack  to  make  himself  clean  ;  " 
yet  example  must  at  last  have  an  effect.     Scotchmen  had  travelled 
and  had  returned   from  their  travels,  and  no  doubt  had  brought 
back  a  certain  love  for  decency  and  cleanliness  even  in  churches. 
In  one  respect,  it  was  noticed,  they  surpassed  their  neighbours. 
Their  conduct  during  service  was  more  becoming.     "  They  did 
not  make  their  bows    and    cringes    in    the   middle  of  their  very 
prayers  as  was  done  in  England."     They  always  waited  till  the 
sermon  was  over  and  the  blessing  given  before  they  looked  round 
and  made  their  civilities  to  their  friends  and  persons  of  distinction.4 
I  inquired  in  vain  when  I  was  in  Edinburgh  for  the  Post-house 
Stairs,  down  which  Johnson  on  leaving  St.  Giles  was  taken  to  the 
Cowgate.     Together  with   so  much  that  was   ancient  they  have 
long  since  disappeared.      He  was  now  at  the  foot  of  the  highest 
building  in  the  town.     As  he  turned  round  and  looked  upwards  he 
saw  a  house  that  rose  above  him  thirteen  storeys  high,  being  built 
like  James's  Court  on  a  steep  slope.      It  has  suffered  the  same  fate 
as  Boswell's  house,  having  been  destroyed  by  fire  more  than  sixty 
years   ago.s     From  the  Cowgate   Robertson  led  the  way  up  the 
steep  hill  to  the  College  of  which  he  was  the  Principal.    They  passed 
through  "  that  narrow  dismal  alley,"  the  College  Wynd,  famous  to 
all  time  as   the  birthplace  of  Sir  Walter  Scott.     Johnson  would 

1  Tour  in  ScotlanJ,  i.  233.  count  of  Scotland,  iii.  43,  and  Pennant's   Tour 

2  Humphry  Clinker,  iii.  5.  in  Scotland,  ii.  249. 

3  The  Tale  of  a  Tub,  section  xi.  3    Chambers,    quoted    in    Croker's    Bos^uell, 
*  Defoe's  Tour  through  Great  Britain  :  Ac-       p.  276. 


EDINBURGH  UNIVERSITY.  83 

have  been  pleased  indeed  could  he  have  known  how  that  bright 
young  genius  would  one  day  delight  in  his  poems,  and  how  the 
last  line  of  manuscript  that  he  was  to  send  to  the  press  would  be  a 
quotation  from  the  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes^  "  Ha;  miserix 
nostra;,"  were  the  melancholy  words  which  Robertson  uttered  as 
he  showed  his  companion  the  mean  buildings  in  which  his  illustrious 
University  was  lodged.  Johnson,  in  the  narrative  of  his  tour,  no 
doubt  remembering  what  he  saw  both  here  and  at  St.  Andrew's, 
grieved  over  a  nation  which,  "  while  its  merchants  or  its  nobles  are 
raising  palaces  suffers  its  universities  to  moulder  into  dust." 
Robertson,  in  an  eloquent  Memorial,  had  lately  pleaded  the  cause 
of  learning.  The  courts  and  buildings  of  the  College  were  so 
mean,  he  said,  that  a  stranger  would  mistake  them  for  almshouses. 
Instead  of  a  spacious  quadrangle  there  were  three  paltry  divisions, 
encompassed  partly  with  a  range  of  low  and  even  of  ruinous 
houses,  and  partly  with  walls  which  threatened  destruction  to  the 
passers-by.  Boswell  tells  of  one  portion  of  the  wall  which,  bulging 
out,  was  supposed,  like  "  Bacon's  mansion,"  to  "tremble  o'er  the 
head"  ot  every  scholar,  being  destined  to  fall  when  a  man  of  extra- 
ordinary learning  should  go  under  it.  It  had  lately  been  taken 
down.  "  They  were  afraid  it  never  would  fall,"  said  Johnson,  glad 
of  an  opportunity  to  have  a  pleasant  hit  at  Scottish  learning. 
In  spite  of  its  poverty  and  the  meanness  of  its  buildings,  such  was 
the  general  reputation  of  the  University,  above  all  of  the  School  of 
Medicine,  that  students  flocked  to  it  from  all  parts  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  from  the  English  settlements  in  North  America  and 
the  West  Indies,  and  even  from  distant  countries  in  Europe. 
Their  number  at  this  time  was  not  less  than  six  or  seven  hundred  ; 
by  1 789  it  had  risen  to  one  thousand  and  ninety.  The  Principal 
did  not  allow  himself  to  be  soothed  into  negligence  by  this  success. 
He  grieved  that  "  with  a  literary  education  should  be  connected 
in  youth  ideas  of  poverty,  meanness,  dirtiness,  and  darkness."  The 
sum  of  money  which  he  asked  for  was  not  large  in  a  country  whose 
wealth  was  so  rapidly  increasing.  For  ,£6,500— not  quite  double 
the  amount  which  he  had  been  lately  paid  for  his  History  of 
Charles  V. — sixteen  "  teaching  rooms  "  could  be  provided,  while 
,£8,500  more  would  supply  everything  else  that  was  needed.  Yet 
it  was  not  till  1789  that  the  foundation  stone  was  laid  of  the  New 

'  Lockhart's  Scott,  iii.  269.    The  quotation  no       stage  ; "  the  line  with  which  Scott  concluded  the 
doubt  was,  "Superfluous  lags  the  veteran  on  the       brief  Appendix  to  Castle  Dangerous. 


EDINBURGH  UNIVERSITY. 


College  of  Edinburgh.  Happily  Robertson  was  spared  to  play  his 
part  on  that  great  clay.  Preceded  by  the  Mace,  with  the  Professor 
of  Divinity  on  his  right  hand,  and  the  Professor  of  Church  History 
on  his  left,  followed  by  the  rest  of  his  colleagues  according  to 
seniority,  and  by  the  students,  each  man  wearing  a  sprig  of  green 
laurel  in  his  hat,  he  headed  the  procession  of  the  University.1 

However  mean  were  the  buildings  in  general,  with  the  library 
Johnson  was  much  pleased.  Fifty  years  earlier  a  traveller  had 
noticed  that  "  the  books  in  it  were  cloistered  with  doors  of  wire 
which  none  could  open  but  the  keeper,  more  commodious  than  the 
multitude  of  chains  used  in  the  English  libraries."  *  I  was  surprised 

to  find  that  so  late  as 
1723  the  use  of  chains 
was  generally  con- 
tinued in  England. 
Yet  about  that  time 
one  of  the  Scotch  ex- 
hibitioners at  Balliol 
College  reported  that 
the  knives  and  forks 
were  chained  to  the 
tables  in  the  Hall,3 so 
that  it  was  likely  that 
at  least  as  great  care 
was  taken  with  books 

of  value.  Johnson's  attention  does  not  seem  to  have  been  drawn  to 
an  inscription  over  one  of  the  doors,  which  the  French  traveller, 
Saint-Fond,  read  with  surprise — Musis  KT  CHRLSTO.  Had  he 
noticed  it,  it  would  scarcely  have  failed  to  draw  forth  some  remark. 
From  the  College  the  party  went  on  to  the  Royal  Infirmary. 
In  the  Bodleian  Library  I  have  found  a  copy  of  the  History  and 
Statutes  of  that  institution  printed  in  1749.  In  it  is  given  a  table 
of  the  three  kinds  of  diet  which  the  patients  were  to  have — "  low, 
middle,  and  full."  The  only  vegetable  food  allowed  was  oatmeal 
and  barley-meal,  rice  and  panado.4  There  was  no  tea,  coffee,  or 
cocoa.  The  only  drink  was  ale,  but  in  "  low  diet "  it  was  not  to  be 
taken.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  Infirmary  was  not  under  the 

1  Scots  Magazine,  1768,  p.  113;  1789,  pp.  521-5.  '  Seep.  52  of  this  pamphlet.     Panada  is  de- 

2  J.  Mackay's/<«>-«0/  through  Scotland,  p.  69.  fined  by  Julmson  as  a  food  math  by  boiling  bread 

3  Scotland  ami  Scotsmen   in    the  Eighteenth  in  water. 
Century,  ii.  307. 


THE   OI.IJ    UliKAKY. 


o 


HOLYROOD   HOUSE.  85 

same  severe  ecclesiastical  discipline  as  the  workhouse.  There  the 
first  failure  to  attend  Divine  worship  was  to  be  followed  by  the 
loss  of  the  next  meal,  while  for  the  second  failure  the  culprit  was 
"  to  be  denied  victuals  for  a  whole  day."  ' 

The  last  sight  which  Johnson  was  shown  in  his"  running  about 
Edinburgh"  was  the  Abbey  of  Holyrood  House,  "that  deserted 
mansion  of  royalty,"  as  Boswell  calls  it  with  a  sigh.  It  was  more 
the  absence  of  a  charwoman  than  of  a  king  that  was  likely  to  rouse 
the  regrets  of  an  Englishman.  "  The  stately  rooms,"  wrote 
Wesley,  "are  dirty  as  stables."1  Even  the  chapel  was  in  a  state 
of  "miserable  neglect."3  It  was  in  Holyrood  that  Robertson 
"fluently  harangued"  on  the  scenes  of  Scottish  history.  In  the 
room  in  which  David  Ri/zio  was  murdered  "  Johnson  was  over- 
heard repeating  in  a  kind  of  muttering  tone,  a  line  of  the  old  ballad, 
Johnny  A  rmstrongs  Last  Good  Night  : 

'  And  ran  him  through  the  fair  body.'  " 

The  mood  in  which  he  was  when  he  made  so  odd  a  quotation  was 
perhaps  no  less  natural  than  Burns's  when  he  wrote  : 

"  With  awe-struck  thought  and  pitying  tears, 

I  view  that  noble,  stately  dome, 
Where  Scotia's  kings  of  other  years 

Famed  heroes,  had  their  royal  home."  4 

The  Castle,  that  "rough,  rude  fortress,"  was  not  visited  by 
Johnson  till  his  return  in  November.  He  owned  that  it  was  "  a 
great  place  ;  "  yet  a  few  days  after  "  he  affected  to  despise  it,  when 
Lord  Elibank  was  talking  of  it  with  the  natural  elation  of  a  Scotch- 
man. "It  would,"  he  said,  "make  a  good  prison  in  England." 
Perhaps  there  was  not  so  much  affectation  as  Boswell  thought,  for 
Johnson  believed,  he  said,  that  the  ruins  of  some  one  of  the  castles 
which  the  English  built  in  Wales  would  supply  materials  for  all 
those  which  he  saw  beyond  the  Tweed.5 


INCH  KEITH  (AUGUST  18.) 

On  the   morning  of   Wednesday,  August  i8th,  the  travellers, 
accompanied  by  Mr.  Nairne,  an  advocate,  set  out  on  their  northern 

'•  Regulations  for  the  Workhouse  of  Edinburgh,  3  Boswell'syo/iHJOH,  v.  362. 

'75°,  p.  30.  '  An  Address  to  Edinburgh. 

*  Wesley '*  Journal,  iv.  181.  5  Johnson's  Works,  ix.  152. 


86  INCH    KEITH. 

tour.  They  were  attended  by  Boswell's  servant,  Joseph  Ritter,  a 
Bohemian,  "a  fine  stately  fellow  above  six  feet  high,  who  had  been 
over  a  great  part  of  Europe,  and  spoke  many  languages.  He  was," 
adds  Boswcll,  "the  best  servant  I  ever  saw.  Dr.  Johnson  gave 
him  this  character,  '  Sir,  he  is  a  civil  man,  and  a  wise  man.' '  At 
Leith  they  took  boat  for  Kinghorn  on  the  other  side  of  the  Firth 
of  Forth.  In  the  passage  Johnson  observed  the  Island  of  Inch 
Keith,  which,  to  his  surprise,  his  companions  had  never  visited, 
"  though  lying  within  their  view,  it  had  all  their  lives  solicited  their 
notice."  He  flattered  his  pride  as  "  a  true-born  Englishman  "  by 
reflecting,  had  it  been  as  near  London  as  it  was  to  Edinburgh, 
"  with  what  emulation  of  price  a  few  rocky  acres  would  have  been 
purchased."  "  I'd  have  this  island,"  he  said.  "  I'd  build  a  house, 
make  a  good  landing-place,  have  a  garden  and  vines,  and  all  sorts 
of  trees.  A  rich  man  of  a  hospitable  turn  here  would  have  many 
visitors  from  Edinburgh."  By  his  wish  they  landed,  putting  in  at 
a  little  bay  on  the  north-west,  the  same  "  wild,  stony  little  bay," 
no  doubt,  into  which  Thomas  Carlyle  and  Edward  Irving  ran  their 
boat  one  summer  evening  more  than  forty  years  later.  "  We  found 
the  island,"  writes  Johnson,  "  a  rock  somewhat  troublesome  to 
climb,  about  a  mile  long  and  half  a  mile  broad  ;  in  the  middle  were 
the  ruins  of  an  old  fort,  which  had  on  one  of  the  stones,  '  Maria  Re. 
1564.'  It  had  been  only  a  blockhouse  one  storey  high.  The  rock 
had  some  grass  and  many  thistles,  both  cows  and  sheep  were 
grazing.  There  was  a  spring  of  water.  We  pleased  ourselves 
with  being  in  a  country  all  our  own."  The  ruins  have  long  since 
disappeared  ;  with  the  stones  a  light-house  was  built.  How  our 
travellers  were  affected  by  the  beautiful  scenery  that  was  all  around, 
if  indeed  they  were  affected,  we  are  not  told.  For  natural  beauties 
Boswell  hoped  to  be  able  some  day  "to  force  a  taste."  In  the 
description  of  visible  objects  he  honestly  owned  he  found  a  great 
difficulty.  Johnson's  descriptions  of  scenery  are  almost  all  of  the 
artificial  school.  Both  men  were  far  too  wise  to  affect  raptures 
which  they  did  not  feel.  Happily  the  view  that  the  chance  wanderer 
sometimes  sees  in  that  lonely  island  has  been  sketched  for  us  by 
the  hands  of  a  master.  Carlyle  thus  describes  what  he  saw  :  "  The 
scene  in  our  little  bay,  as  we  were  about  proceeding  to  launch  our 
boat,  seemed  to  me  the  beautifullest  I  had  ever  beheld.  Sun  about 
setting  just  in  face  of  us,  behind  Ben  Lomond  far  away.  Edinburgh 
with  its  towers  ;  the  great  silver  mirror  of  the  Frith  girt  by  such  a 


POST-CHAtSES   AND    ROADS.  87 

framework  of  mountains;  cities,  rocks,  and  fields  and  wavy  land- 
scapes on  all  hands  of  us  ;  and  reaching  right  under  foot,  as  I 
remember,  came  a  broad  pillar  as  of  gold  from  the  just  sinking  sun  ; 
burning  axle,  as  it  were,  going  down  to  the  centre  of  the  world." ' 

The  weather  was  fine,  so  that  our  travellers  had  a  pleasant 
crossing  over  "  that  great  gulf"  which  Hume  "  regarded  with 
horror  and  a  kind  of  hydrophobia  that  kept  him,"  he  said,  from 
visiting  Adam  Smith  at  Kirkaldy.*  In  Humphry  Clinker  Matthew 
Bramble  had  had  so  rough  a  passage,  that  when  he  was  told  that 
he  had  been  saved  "  by  the  particular  care  of  Providence,"  he 
replied,  "  Yes,  but  I  am  much  of  the  honest  Highlander's  mind, 
after  he  had  made  such  a  passage  as  this.  His  friend  told  him  he 
was  much  indebted  to  Providence.  '  Certainly,'  said  Donald,  '  but 
by  my  saul,  mon,  I'se  ne'er  trouble  Providence  again  so  long  as 
the  Brig  of  Stirling  stands."  ; 


THE  DRIVE  TO  ST.  ANDREWS  (AUGUST  18). 

At  Kinghorn,  "a  mean  town,"  which  was  said  to  consist  chiefly 
of  "  horse-hirers  and  boatmen  noted  all  Scotland  over  for  their 
impudence  and  impositions,"  '  our  travellers  took  a  post-chaise  for 
St.  Andrews.  A  few  years  earlier  Johnson  would  not  have  found 
there  his  favourite  mode  of  conveyance.  By  the  year  1758  post- 
chaises  had  only  penetrated  as  far  north  as  Durham.5  He  found 
the  roads  good,  "  neither  rough  nor  dirty."  The  absence  of 
toll-gates,  "  afforded  a  southern  stranger  a  new  kind  of  pleasure." 
He  would  not  have  rejoiced  over  this  absence  had  he  known  that 
their  want  was  supplied  by  the  forced  labour  of  the  cottars.  On 
these  poor  men  was  laid  "  an  annual  tax  of  six  days'  labour  for 
repairing  the  roads."  (i  Used  as  he  was  to  the  rapid  succession  of 
carriages  and  riders,  and  to  the  beautiful  and  varied  scenery  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  London,  he  complained  that  in  Scotland  there 
was  "  little  diversion  for  the  traveller,  who  seldom  sees  himself 
either  encountered  or  overtaken,  and  who  has  nothing  to  contem- 
plate but  grounds  that  have  no  visible  boundaries,  or  are  separated 
by  walls  of  loose  stone."  There  were  few  of  the  heavy  waggons 

1  Reminiscences,  i.  113.  4  Ray's   History  of  the  Rebellion  of  1745-6, 

2  Hume's  Letters  to  Sira/tan,  p.  115.  p.  284. 

3  Humphry  Clinker,  \\,  249.  5  Dr.  A.  Carlyle's  Autobiography,  p.  331. 

6  Lord  Kames's  Sketches,  iii.  483. 


88  KIRKAUW. 

which  were  seen  on  the  roads  in  Kngland.  A  small  cart  drawn  by 
one  little  horse  was  the  carriage  in  common  use.  "A  man  seemed 
to  derive  some  degree  of  dignity  and  importance  from  the  reputa- 
tion of  possessing  a  two-horse  cart."  Three  miles  beyond  King- 
horn  they  drove  through  Kirkaldy,  "  a  very  long  town,  meanly 
built,"  where  Adam  Smith  perhaps  at  that  very  time  was  taking 
his  one  amusement,  "a  long,  solitary  walk  by  the  sea-side,"  smiling 
and  talking  to  himself  and  meditating  his  M'callh  of  Nations* 
Here,  too,  Thomas  Carlyle  was  to  have  "  will  and  way-gate  "  upon 
all  his  friend  Irving' s  books,  and  here  "  with  greedy  velocity  "  he 
was  to  read  the  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  at  the  rate 
of  a  volume  a  day.  Along  the  beach  he  was  to  walk  "  in  summer 
twilights,  a  mile  of  the  smoothest  sand,  with  one  long  wave  coming 
on  gently,  steadily,  and  breaking  in  gradual  explosion  into  harm- 
less, melodious  white  at  your  hand  all  the  way."2  Of  all  the 
scenery  which  Johnson  saw,  either  here  or  on  the  rest  of  his  drive, 
his  description  is  of  the  briefest.  "  The  whole  country,"  he  wrote, 
"  is  extended  in  uniform  nakedness,  except  that  in  the  road  between 
Kirkaldy  and  Cupar  I  passed  for  a  few  yards  between  two  hedges." 
Night,  however,  had  come  on  before  their  journey  was  ended,  for 
they  had  lost  time  at  Inch  Keith.  They  could  not,  moreover, 
have  been  driven  at  a  fast  pace,  for  between  Kinghorn  and  St. 
Andrews,  a  distance  of  nearly  thirty  miles,  there  was  no  change  of 
horses  to  be  had.3  They  crossed,  perhaps  without  knowing  it, 
Magus  Moor,  where  Archbishop  Sharpe,  "  driving  home  from  a 
council  day,"  was  killed  "  by  a  party  of  furious  men."  *  In  going 
over  this  same  moor  many  years  later,  Sir  Walter  Scott,  being 
moved,  as  he  says,  by  the  spirit  to  give  a  picture  of  the  assassina- 
tion, so  told  his  tale  that  he  "  frightened  away  the  night's  sleep 
of  one  of  his  fellow-travellers."5 


ST.   ANDREWS  (AUGUST   18-20). 

Coming  as  they  did  through  the  darkness  to  St.  Andrews,  they 
saw  nothing  of  that  "  august  appearance  "  which  the  seat  of  the 
most  ancient  of  the  Scotch  universities  presented  from  afar.  "It 

1  Humes  Letters  to   Strahan,    p.    353,  and           4  Biirnel's   History  of  His    Own    Time,    ed. 
Boswell'sy<;/;HWH,  iv.  24,  «.  2.  iSiS,  ii.  82.     Balfour  of  Burley,  the  leader,  is 

2  Reminiscences,  i.  102-4.  known  to  the  readers  of  Old  Mortality. 

3  Saint-Pond's  Voyage,  d-Y.,  ii.  253.  5  Lockhart's  Scott,  i    72. 


ST.    ANDREWS. 


89 


appears,"  said  an  early  traveller,  "  much  like  Bruges  in  Flanders 
at  a  distance  ;  its  colleges  and  fine  steeples  making  a  goodly 
appearance."  '  They  arrived  late,  after  a  dreary  drive,  but  "  found 
a  good  supper  at  Glass's  Inn,  and  Dr.  Johnson  revived  agreeably." 
Who  was  Glass  and  which  was  his  inn  I  could  not  ascertain.  The 
old  Scotch  custom  of  calling  a  house  not  after  its  sign  but  its 
landlord,  renders  identification  difficult.  Wherever  it  was  they 
found  it  full  ;  but  "  by  the  interposition  of  some  invisible  friend," 
to  use  Johnson's  words,  "lodgings  were  provided  at  the  house  of 
one  of  the  professors."  The  invisible  friend  was  a  relation  of 
that  "  most  universal 
Dr.  Arbuth- 


genius, 

not,    whom    Johnson 

once    ranked    first 

among  the  writers  in 

Queen  Anne's  reign. 

Their    host  was   Dr. 

Robert   Watson,   the 

author  of  the  History 

of    Philip    II.    and 

Philip  III.  of  Spain, 

"  an  interesting,  clear, 

well  -  arranged,      and 

rather    feeble-minded 

work,"  as  Carlyle  de- 

scribed it.2  His  house 

had     formerly     been 

part  of  St.  Leonard's 

College,  but  had  been  purchased  by  him  at  the  time  when  that 

ancient  institution,  by  being  merged  in  St.  Salvator's,  lost  its  separate 

existence.     A  traveller  who  had  visited  St.   Andrews  about  the 

year  1723  saw  the  old  cells  of  the  monks,  two  storeys   high,  on 

the  southern  side  of  the  college.     "  On  the  west  was  a  goodly  pile 

of  buildings,  but  all  out  of  repair."      Wesley,  who  came  to  the  town 

three  years  after  Johnson,  does  not  seem  to  have  known  how  large 

a  part  of  the  old  buildings  had  been  converted  into  a  private  house, 

for  he  wrote  that  "  what  was  left  of  St.    Leonard's  College  was 


ST.  LEONARD'S  COLLEGE. 


through  Scotland,  p.  83. 
"  Early  Letters  of  Thomas  Carlyle,  ed.  1886,  !.  187. 
t^y  through  Scot/anil,  p.  87. 

N 


9o  ST.    LEONARD'S    COLLEGE. 

only  a  heap  of  ruins."  '    Of  the  inside  of  the  ancient  chapel  Johnson 
could  not  get  a  sight : 

"  I  was  always,  by  some  civil  excuse,  hindered  from  entering  it.  A  decent 
attempt,  as  I  was  since  told,  has  been  made  to  convert  it  into  a  kind  of  green-house,  by 
planting  its  area  with  shrubs.  This  new  method  of  gardening  is  unsuccessful;  the 
plants  do  not  hitherto  prosper.  To  what  use  it  will  next  be  put,  I  have  no  pleasure 
in  conjecturing.  It  is  something,  that  its  present  state  is  at  least  not  ostentatiously 
displayed.  Where  there  is  yet  shame,  there  may  in  time  be  virtue." 

The  virtue  was  somewhat  slow  in  coming.  Saint-Fond,  who 
got  a  peep  into  the  chapel,  inferred  that  it  was  used  for  a  winter 
store-house  for  the  carrots  and  turnips  which  grew  in  the  kitchen- 
garden  that  surrounded  it.  It  has  of  late  years  been  cleared  of 
rubbish  and  restored  to  decency,  which,  perhaps,  is  all  the  restora- 
tion that  is  desirable.  Some  shrubs  and  overhanging  trees  have 
been  allowed  to  throw  a  graceful  veil  over  man's  neglect.  One 
strange  sight  the  old  monkish  cells  had  witnessed  earlier  in  the 
century.  A  man  of  liberal  views  had  been  elected  Rector  of  the 
University.  In  his  honour  "  the  students  made  a  bonfire  at  St. 
Leonard's  Gate,  into  which  they  threw  some  of  the  Calvinistic 
systems  which  they  were  enjoined  to  read."1  Not  very  many 
years  before  this  innocent  and  even  meritorious  sacrifice  was  made, 
the  terrible  flames  of  religious  persecution  had  blazed  up  in  this  city 
dedicated  to  piety  and  learning.  It  is  possible  that  Johnson  passed 
in  the  streets  some  aged  man  who  in  his  childhood  had  seen  a 
miserable  woman  burnt  to  death  for  withcraft  on  the  Witch  Hill. 
So  late  as  the  seventh  year  of  the  present  century  a  gentleman 
was  living  who  had  known  a  person  who  had  witnessed  this 
dreadful  sight.3 

In  Dr.  Watson's  house  the  two  travellers  "found  very  comfort- 
able and  genteel  accommodation."  The  host  "wondered  at  John- 
son's total  inattention  to  established  manners ; "  but  he  does  not 
seem  to  have  let  his  wonder  be  discovered  by  his  guest.  "  I  take 
great  delight  in  him,"  said  Johnson.  How  much  delight  Watson 
took  in  him  we  are  not  told.  "  He  allowed  him  a  very  strong 
understanding;"  and  as  well  he  might,  for  he  heard  some  "good 
talk."  It  was  at  his  breakfast-table  that  Johnson  proudly  pointed 
out  how  authors  had  at  length  shaken  themselves  free  of  patrons. 
"  Learning,"  he  said,  "  is  a  trade.  We  have  done  with  patronage. 

1  Wesley's  Journal,  iv.  77.  Innes's    literary   fraud    described    in    Boswell's 

*  Scotland  and  Scotsmen   in   the  Eighteenth  Johnson,  i.  360,  and  the  father  of  "  Lexiphanes." 

Century,  i.  268.     The  popular  rector  was  Archi-  16.  ii.  44. 

bald   Campbell,   the   victim   of   the    Rev.    Dr.  3  St.  AndreiJs  As  it  was  and  as  ft  is,  p.  161. 


BUCHANAN'S    HOUSE.  9i 

If  learning  cannot  support  a  man,  if  he  must  sit  with  his  hands 
across  till  somebody  feeds  him,  it  is  as  to  him  a  bad  thing."  It 
was  here,  moreover,  that  he  gave  that  amusing  account  of  the  change 
of  manners  in  his  lifetime.  "  I  remember  (said  he)  when  all  the 
decent  people  in  Lichfield  got  drunk  every  night,  and  were  not  the 
worse  thought  of."  That  smoking  had  gone  out  seemed  to  him 
strange,  for  it  was  "a  thing  which  requires  so  little  exertion,  and 
yet  preserves  the  mind  from  total  vacuity." 

The  exact  spot  where  he  was  so  comfortably  lodged  is  doubtful. 
In  the  Hebrides  some  of  the  chambers  in  which  he  slept  are  still 
known.  In  a  University,  where  the  traditions  of  a  scholar  should 
surely  linger  long,  the  very  house  has  been  forgotten.  It  is 
believed,  however,  that  Dr.  Watson  occupied  that  part  of  the 
ancient  building  which  had  once  been  Buchanan's  residence.  Some 
portion  of  that  great  scholar's  study  still  remains,  having  outlived 
both  time  and  change.  Yet  that  Johnson  should  not  have  been 
informed  of  a  fact  which  to  him  would  have  been  so  interesting,  or 
that  being  informed  he  should  not  have  mentioned  it,  is  indeed 
surprising.  His  admiration  for  Buchanan's  genius  seems  almost 
unbounded.  If  the  city  attracted  him  because  it  had  once  been 
archiepiscopal,  so  did  the  University,  because  in  it  Buchanan  had 
once  taught  philosophy.  "  His  name,"  he  adds,  "  has  as  fair  a  claim 
to  immortality  as  can  be  conferred  by  modern  latinity,  and  perhaps 
a  fairer  than  the  instability  of  vernacular  languages  admits."  Sir 
Walter  Scott  loved  him  almost  as  much  as  Johnson.  "  He  was  his 
favourite  Latin  poet  as  well  as  historian."  ! 

Our  travellers  rose  "  much  refreshed  "  from  their  fatigue,  and  to 
the  enjoyment  of  a  very  fine  day.  They  went  forth  to  view  the 
ruins  not  only  of  a  cathedral,  but  almost  of  a  city  and  a  University. 
That  it  had  once  flourished  as  a  city  was  shown  by  history  :  its 
ancient  magnificence  as  the  seat  of  a  great  archbishopric  was  wit- 
nessed by  "  the  mournful  memorials  "  which  had  escaped  the  hands 
of  the  devastator.  Of  its  three  Colleges  only  two  were  standing. 
It  was  "the  skeleton  of  a  venerable  city,"  said  Smollett.2  Many 
years  earlier  a  traveller,  applying  to  it  Lord  Rochester's  words,  had 
described  it  as  being  "  in  its  full  perfection  of  decay."  Pennant, 
who  visited  it  only  the  year  before  Johnson,  on  entering  the  West 
Port,  saw  a  well-built  street,  straight,  and  of  a  vast  length  and 
breadth,  lying  before  him  ;  but  it  was  so  grass-grown,  and  so  dreary 

1  Lockhart's  Life  of  Scott,  i.  175.  ''  Humphry  Clinker,  ii.  246. 


92  GRASS-GROWN    STREETS. 

a  solitude,  that  it  seemed  as  if  it  had  been  laid  waste  by  pestilence.1 
Another  traveller,  who  came  a  little  later,  praised  "  the  noble  wide 
street,"  but  lamented  that  most  of  the  houses  were  "  disfigured  by 
what  is  termed  a  fore-stair — that  is,  an  open  staircase  on  the  out- 
side, carried  in  a  zigzag  manner  across  the  front  of  the  house." 
Before  most  of  them  was  heaped  up  a  huge  dunghill.2  A  young 
English  student  fresh  from  Eton,  the  grandson  of  Bishop  Berkeley, 
who  entered  the  University  about  the  year  17/8,  on  seeing  "this 
dreary  deserted  city,  wept  to  think  that  he  was  to  remain  there 
three  long  years."  So  fond  nevertheless  did  he  become  of  the 
place  that  "he  shed  more  tears  at  leaving  than  at  entering." : 
Saint-Eoncl  saw  grass  growing  in  all  the  streets  :  "  Tout  y  est  triste, 
silencieux  ;  le  peuple,  y  vivant  dans  1'ignorance  des  arts  et  du  com- 
merce, offre  rimage  de  1'insouciance  et  cle  la  langueur."4  I  was  told 
by  an  old  inhabitant  that  not  a  single  new  house  was  built  till  after 
the  year  1851,  and  that  not  long  before  that  time  sheep  might  be 
seen  feeding  in  the  grass-grown  streets.  Our  travellers  were 
touched  by  the  general  gloom.  "It  was,"  said  Bos  well,  "  some- 
what dispiriting  to  see  this  ancient  archiepiscopal  city  now  sadly 
deserted."  "  One  of  its  streets,"  wrote  Johnson,  "  is  now  lost ;  and 
in  those  that  remain  there  is  the  silence  and  solitude  of  inactive  in- 
digence and  gloomy  depopulation."  This  loss  of  a  street  seems  to 
have  been  imaginary.  He  was  speaking,  no  doubt,  of  the  road 
known  under  the  name  of  The  Scores,  which  runs  in  front  of  the 
Castle,  and  follows  the  line  of  the  coast.  But  along  its  course 
neither  pavements  nor  foundations  have  ever  been  discovered.5 
Nevertheless  the  desolation  was  very  great.  Over  one  ruin,  how- 
ever, a  good  man  might  have  justly  exulted.  In  the  archbishops' 
castle  on  the  edge  of  the  sea  is  shown  the  dreadful  pit  in  which  the 
unhappy  prisoner,  far  below  the  level  of  the  ground,  spent  his 
weary  days  in  wretchedness  and  darkness,  listening  to  the  beating 
of  the  waves.  Here  ofttimes  he  waited  for  the  hour  to  come  when 
he  should  be  raised  by  a  rope  to  the  surface,  as  if  he  were  a  bucket 
of  water,  and  not  a  man,  and  dragged  off  to  die  before  the  people. 
Sometimes  those  poor  eyes,  grown  weak  by  a  darkness  which  was 
never  broken,  of  a  sudden  had  to  face,  not  only  the  light  of  day,  but 

1    Ton  i-  in  S, -at/am/,  ii.  189.     The  population  '    /  \yagc  en  Angleterre,  i>r.,  ii.  238. 

he    estimated    at    about    two    thousand.       //<.  '  My   informant    is    Dr.    John    Paterson,    of 

P-  196-  Clifton  Bank,  St.  Andrews,  to  whose  extensive 

1  Poems  of  G.  M.  Berkeley,  Preface,  p.  Ixi.  knowledge  as  a  local  antiquary  and  most  friendly 

'J  fl>.  p.  Ixii.  assistance  I  am  indebted. 


THE   CASTLE. 


the  blaze  of  the  torch  which  was  to  kindle  the  martyr's  pile.  Think- 
ing on  all  this— on  Patrick  Hamilton,  on  Henry  Forrest,  on  George 
Wishart,  and  on  Walter  Milne,  who  for  their  faith  suffered  death 


ST.    ANDREWS   CASTLE. 


ST.    ANDREWS. 


DOCKS. 


by  fire  at  St.  Andrews — who  does  not  rejoice  that  this  dismal  den 
was  shattered  to  pieces,  and  that  where  once  "  an  atheous  priest " 
made  the  good  tremble  by  his  frown,  now  on  the  pleasant  sward 
innocent  children  play  about,  and  strangers  from  afar  idly  dream  an 
hour  away  ? 


94  THE    CATHEDRAL. 

None  of  these  thoughts  came  into  the  minds  of  the  two  travellers 
They  did  not  see  this  dreadful  dungeon,  for  it  was  hidden  beneath 
the  rubbish  of  the  ruined  walls.  The  sight  of  it  would,  I  hope, 
have  moved  Johnson  to  write  otherwise  than  he  did.  Had  he 
looked  down  into  its  gloomy  depths,  he  would  scarcely  have  said 
that  "  Cardinal  Beaton  was  murdered  by  the  ruffians  of  reforma- 
tion." Never  surely  was  a  more  righteous  sentence  executed  than 
that  whereby  this  murderer  of  George  Wishart,  in  the  very  room 
where,  lolling  on  his  velvet  cushion,  he  had  looked  forth  on  the 
martyr's  sufferings,  was  himself  put  to  death. 

With  far  different  feelings  are  we  animated  as  we  look  at  "  the 
poor  remains  of  the  stately  Cathedral."  If  we  do  not  grieve  for  the 
rooks,  nevertheless  we  mourn  over  the  wild  folly  which  struck 
down  so  glorious  a  rookery.  Would  that  that  fair  sight  still  caught 
the  sailor's  eye  which  met  John  Knox's  gaze  when,  "  hanging  tired 
over  his  oar  in  the  French  galley,  he  saw  the  white  steeples  of  St. 
Andrews  rising  out  of  the  sea  in  the  mist  of  the  summer  morning  I"1 
Desolate  as  is  the  scene  of  ruin  now,  it  was  far  more  desolate  when 
Johnson  saw  it.  The  ground  lay  deep  in  rubbish.  The  few  broken 
pillars  which  were  left  standing  were  almost  hidden  in  the  ruins 
heaped  up  around  them.  The  Cathedral  until  very  lately  had  been 
made  a  common  quarry,  "  and  every  man  had  carried  away  the 
stones  who  fancied  that  he  wanted  them."  Now  all  is  trim.  The 
levelled  ground,  the  smooth  lawn,  the  gravelled  paths,  the  gently 
sloping  banks,  the  trees  and  the  shrubs,  all  bear  witness  to  man's 
care  for  the  venerable  past,  and  to  his  reverence  for  the  dead  who 
still  find  their  last  resting-place  by  the  side  of  their  forefathers. 
The  wantonness  of  the  destruction,  however,  mocks  at  repair. 
The  work  was  too  thoroughly  done  by  those  fierce  reformers,  and 
by  the  quiet  quarry  men  of  after  ages.  In  all  the  cities  of  Scotland 
there  were  craftsmen,  but  it  was  in  Glasgow  alone  that  they 
rose  to  save  their  beloved  Cathedral.  Yet  everywhere  the  people 
should  have  felt — to  use  Johnson's  homely  words — as,  "wrapt  up 
in  contemplation,"  he  surveyed  these  scenes — that  "  differing  from 
a  man  in  doctrine  is  no  reason  why  you  should  pull  his  house  about 
his  ears."  We  may  exclaim,  as  Wesley  exclaimed  at  Aberbrothick, 
when  he  was  told  that  the  zealous  reformers  burnt  the  Abbey 
clown,  "  God  deliver  us  from  reforming  mobs  !"2 

o 

In  the  ruined  cloisters  as  our  travellers  paced  up  and  down, 

1  Froude's History  of  England,  ed.  1870,  vi.  233.  »  Wesley '&  Journal,  Hi.  397. 


TALK   IN   THE   CLOISTERS.  95 

while  the  old  walls  gave  "  a  solemn  echo  "  to  their  steps  and  to 
Johnson's  strong  voice,  he  talked  about  retirement  from  the  world. 
For  such  a  discourse  there  could  not  easily  have  been  found  a  more 
fitting  scene. 

"  I  never  read  of  an  hermit  (he  said)  but  in  imagination  I  kiss  his  feet :  never 
of  a  monastery,  but  I  could  fall  on  my  knees  and  kiss  the  pavement.  But  I  think 
putting  young  people  there,  who  know  nothing  of  life,  nothing  of  retirement,  is 
dangerous  and  wicked.  It  is  a  saying  as  old  as  Hesiod — 

"Kpya  v'ttav,  fiovXai  <5e  fittrwi',  filial  de  ytpuvTW,'  ' 

That  is  a  very  noble  line :  not  that  young  men  should  not  pray,  or  old  men  not 
give  counsel,  but  that  every  season  of  life  has  its  proper  duties.  I  have  thought  of 
retiring,  and  have  talked  of  it  to  a  friend ;  but  I  find  my  vocation  is  rather  to  active 
life." 

Here,  too,  it  was  a  different  scene  upon  which  he  looked  from 
that  which  meets  our  view.  The  gravestones  which  are  now  set 
against  the  walls  of  the  cloisters  were  then  buried  beneath  the 
rubbish  of  the  cathedral.  On  the  other  side  of  this  wall,  in  the 
grounds  of  the  priory,  were  situated  those  "  two  vaults  or  cellars  " 
where  our  travellers  found  a  strange  inmate. 

"  In  one  of  them  (writes  Johnson)  lives  an  old  woman,  who  claims  an  hereditary 
residence  in  it,  boasting  that  her  husband  was  the  sixth  tenant  of  this  gloomy 
mansion  in  a  lineal  descent,  and  claims  by  her  marriage  with  this  lord  of  the  cavern  an 
alliance  with  the  Bruces.  Mr.  Boswell  staid  a  while  to  interrogate  her,  because  he 
understood  her  language;  she  told  him  that  she  and  her  cat  lived  together;  that 
she  had  two  sons  somewhere,  who  might  perhaps  be  dead ;  that  when  there  were 
quality  in  the  town  notice  was  taken  of  her,  and  that  now  she  was  neglected,  but 
did  not  trouble  them.  Her  habitation  contained  all  that  she  had ;  her  turf  for  fire 
was  laid  in  one  place  and  her  balls  of  coal  dust  in  another,  but  her  bed  seemed  to 
be  clean.  Boswell  asked  her  if  she  never  heard  any  noises,  but  she  could  tell  him 
of  nothing  supernatural,  though  she  often  wandered  in  the  night  among  the  graves 
and  ruins ;  only  she  had  sometimes  notice  by  dreams  of  the  death  of  her  relations." 

I  made  as  diligent  an  inquiry  as  I  could  after  this  kinswoman 
of  the  royal  family  of  Scotland,  but  all  in  vain. 

"  The  glories  of  our  blood  and  state 
Are  shadows,  not  substantial  things." 

The  memory  has  been  preserved  of  "some  cellar-looking  places," 
but  no  tradition  of  human  habitation  has  come  down  to  our  time. 

"  Dr.  Johnson  wanted  to  mount  the  steeples  (writes  Boswell),  but  it  could  not 
be  done.  One  of  them,  which  he  was  told  was  in  danger,  he  wished  not  to  be 
taken  down ;  '  for  (said  he)  it  may  fall  on  some  of  the  posterity  of  John  Knox ; 
and  no  great  matter.'  " 

1  Translated  by  Boswell : 

"  Let  youth  in  deeds,  in  counsel  man  engage  ; 
Prayer  is  the  proper  duty  of  old  age. ' 


ST.    RULE'S    TOWER. 


Among  the  posterity  was  to  be  born  eight-and-twenty  years 
later  a  little  girl,  destined  to  become  famous  as  the  wife  of  Thomas 
Carlyle.1  What  was  the  hindrance  to  the  ascent  ot  St.  Rule's 
Tower  I  could  not  ascertain.  The  staircase,  which  is  perfect,  has 

in  no  part  a  modern 
appearance,  but  never- 
theless, it  is  possible 
that  some  of  the  steps 
were  missing.  Saint- 
Fond,  nevertheless, 
went  up  it  not  long 
after  Johnson's  visit. 
Sir  Walter  Scott,  a  few 
years  before  his  death, 
visiting  the  ruins,  wrote 
that  he  had  not  been 
strong  enough  to  climb 
the  tower. 

"When  before  did  I  re- 
main sitting  below  when 
there  was  a  steeple  to  be 
ascended  ?  I  sat  down  on  a 
grave-stone,  and  recollected 
the  first  visit  I  made  to  St. 
Andrews,  now  thirty-four 
years  ago.  What  changes  in 
my  feelings  and  my  fortunes 
have  since  then  taken  place  ! 
— some  for  the  better,  many 
for  the  worse.  I  remembered 
the  name  I  then  carved  in 
runic  characters  on  the  turf 
beside  the  Castle  Gate,  and 
I  asked  why  it  should  still 
agitate  my  heart." 2 

As  we  wander  among  these  ancient  ruins  it  is  pleasant  to  think 
not  only  on  the  days  when  the  cathedral  stood  in  all  its  magnifi- 
cence, and  on  those  other  days  when  the  wild  mob  raved  through 
it,  but  also  on  old  Samuel  Johnson,  wrapped  up  in  contemplation 
or  preaching  about  retirement,  and  on  Walter  Scott  resting  on  a 

1  Her  descent  from   Knox  is  not  fully  esta-       good  likelihood  of  the   genealogy."     Reminis- 
blished,  though,  says  Carlyle,   "there  is  really       cences  by  Thomas  Carlyle,  ii.  103. 

2  Lockhart's  Life  of  Scott,  ix.  126. 


WEST    DOOR,    ST.   ANDREWS. 


THE   PROFESSORS'   DINNER.  97 

gravestone  and  dreaming  of  his  first  love.  We  may  pause,  too, 
for  one  moment  in  the  old  chapel  beneath  the  tower,  at  the  spot 
where  that  good  man  and  good  antiquary  Robert  Chambers  lies  in 
everlasting  rest.  From  the  top  of  the  tower  I  looked  with  pleasure 
on  the  long  row  of  young  trees  planted  along  the  main  street.  The 
reproach  of  bareness  will  not  long  hang  over  the  town.  Indeed, 
much  had  been  done  to  remove  it  by  an  earlier  generation,  for  this 
noble  street  was  adorned  not  many  years  ago  by  a  fine  group  of 
trees.  Unfortunately  a  reforming  provost  arose,  who  swept  them 
away.  Near  the  cathedral  I  noticed  an  inscription  which  might 
have  called  forth  Johnson's  sarcastic  wit  had  he  chanced  to  see  it. 
It  bore  the  date  of  1712,  and  was  in  memory  of  "John  Anderson 
who  was  Minister  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  Andrews." 

While  the  travellers  were  strolling  about  "  dinner  was  men- 
tioned. '  Ay,  ay,'  said  Johnson.  '  Amidst  all  these  sorrowful 
scenes  I  have  no  objection  to  dinner.' "  They  were  to  be  the 
guests  of  the  professors,  who  entertained  them  at  one  of  the  inns. 

"  An  ill-natured  story  was  circulated  (says  Boswell)  that,  after  grace  was  said  in 
English,  Johnson,  with  the  greatest  marks  of  contempt,  as  if  he  had  held  it  to  be  no 
grace  in  an  university,  would  not  sit  down  till  he  had  said  grace  aloud,  in  Latin. 
This  would  have  been  an  insult  indeed  to  the  gentlemen  who  were  entertaining  us. 
But  the  truth  was  precisely  thus.  In  the  course  of  conversation  at  dinner,  Dr. 
Johnson,  in  very  good  humour,  said,  '  I  should  have  expected  to  have  heard  a 
Latin  grace,  among  so  many  learned  men  :  we  had  always  a  Latin  grace  at  Oxford. 
I  believe  I  can  repeat  it." 

This  grace  had  been  written  by  the  learned  Camclen  for  Pembroke 
College,  "  to  which,"  to  use  Johnson's  own  words,  "  the  zeal  or 
gratitude  of  those  that  love  it  most  can  wish  little  better  than  that 
it  may  long  proceed  as  it  began." 

In  the  afternoon  they  went  to  see  the  monument  to  Archbishop 
Sharpe.  His  great  granddaughter  they  met  at  supper.  Saint- 
Fond,  confounding  him  with  Cardinal  Beaton,  says:  "II  parait 
que  les  parens  du  Cardinal  Beaton  n'ont  pas  voulu  deguiser  la 
paternite  du  saint  archeveque,  puisque  sa  fille  est  representee  toute 
en  pleurs,  les  bras  tendus  vers  son  pere."  ' 

The  two  colleges  which  formed  the  University  greatly  in- 
terested Johnson.  The  natural  advantages  of  St.  Andrews  for  a 
seat  of  learning  had  been  pointed  out  by  an  earlier  traveller,  who 
maintained  that  it  had  the  best  situation  he  had  ever  seen  for  an 
University,  "  being  out  of  all  common  roads,  and  having  fine  downs 

1    Voyage  en  Angletcrre,  c.-'f. ,  ii.  232. 
O 


98  A    DECLINING    UNIVERSITY. 

or  links,  as  they  call  them,  for  exercising  the  scholars."  l  The 
golfers  who  now  throng  the  links  and  boast  that  when  professors 
by  their  learning  could  not  save  the  ancient  city  from  sinking  into 
decay,  they  by  their  idleness  have  lilted  it  into  prosperity,  must 
have  been  numerous  even  in  Johnson's  time.  Of  all  the  old 
manufactures,  that  of  golf-balls  alone  was  left,  and  it  maintained, 
or  rather  helped  to  destroy,  several  people.  "  The  trade,"  says 
Pennant,  "  is  commonly  fatal  to  the  artists,  for  the  balls  are  made 
by  stuffing  a  great  quantity  of  feathers  into  a  leathern  case,  by  help 
of  an  iron  rod  with  a  wooden  handle  pressed  against  the  breast, 


t> 

»  2 


which  seldom  fails  to  bring  on  a  consumption.'"'  To  Johnson, 
though  he  makes  no  mention  of  the  Links,  "  St.  Andrews  seemed 
to  be  a  place  eminently  adapted  to  study  and  education."  Never- 


OOI.F   AT   ST.    ANDREWS. 


theless,  he  had  to  grieve  over  a  declining  university.  The  fault 
was  not,  he  said,  in  the  professors  ;  the  expenses  of  the  students, 
moreover,  were  very  moderate.  For  about  fifteen  pounds,  board, 
lodging,  and  instruction  were  provided  for  the  session  of  seven 
months  for  students  of  the  highest  class.  Those  of  lower  rank 
were  charged  less  than  ten.  Percival  Stockdale,  who  was  there  in 
i  756,  says  that  "  for  a  good  bedroom,  coals,  and  the  attendance  of 
a  servant,  he  paid  one  shilling  a  week."  At  this  period  an  Oxford 
commoner,  Johnson  says,  required  a  hundred  a  year  and  a  petty 
scholarship  "  to  live  with  great  ease."  4  To  anyone  who  could  pay 
for  what  he  bought  in  ready  money,  living  was  made  cheaper  by 
the  system  of  giving  a  discount  of  a  shilling  in  the  pound.  A 
Scotch  gentleman  who  resided  much  in  England  finding  that  this 


1  Macky's  Journey  through  Scotland,  p.  93. 
''  Pennant's  Tour  in  Scotland,  ii.  197. 


J  Stockpile's  Memoirs,  i.  238. 
'   Boswell's  Johnson,  vi.  xxx. 


ST.    SALVATOR'S   COLLEGE.  99 

was  not  done  in  that  country,  "was  in  the  habit  when  he  purchased 
anything  of  putting  the  cash  in  a  piece  of  paper,  on  which  he  wrote 
what  it  was  to  pay.  This  lie  kept  in  his  desk  twelve  months, 
saying  that  the  English  traders  are  a  set  of  rascals."  ]  The  poorer 
Scotch  students,  however,  had  to  bear  great  privations.  "  The 
miserable  holes  which  some  of  them  inhabit,"  writes  a  young 
English  traveller,  "  their  abstemiousness  and  parsimony,  their  con- 
stant attendance  to  study,  their  indefatigable  industry,  border  on 
romance."  At  St.  Andrews  they  often  were  too  poor  to  buy 
candles,  and  had  to  study  by  fire-light. :i  In  spite  of  the  extra- 
ordinary cheapness  of  the  life  their  numbers  were  dwindling. 
They  did  not  at  this  time  exceed  a  hundred,  says  Johnson.  Three 
years  later  Wesley  was  told  that  there  were  only  about  .seventy."1 
"  To  the  sight  of  archicpiscopal  ruins,"  Johnson  was  reconciled,  lie 
said,  by  the  remoteness  of  the  calamity  which  had  befallen  them. 
"  Had  the  University  been  destroyed  two  centuries  ago  we  should 
not  have  regretted  it ;  but  to  see  it  pining  in  decay  and  struggling 
for  life  fills  the  mind  with  mournful  images  and  ineffectual  wishes." 
Some  improvement,  nevertheless,  had  of  late  been  made.  Defoe, 
in  the  year  1727,  had  described  the  whole  building  of  St.  Salvator's 
College  "  as  looking  into  its  grave." ;  The  account  given  by 
Boswell  of  the  fabric  is  much  more  cheerful.  "  The  rooms  for 
students,"  he  writes,  "  seemed  very  commodious,  and  Dr.  Johnson 
said  the  chapel  was  the  neatest  place  of  worship  he  had  seen." 
Nevertheless,  at  the  beginning  of  this  century  some  of  the  lecture- 
rooms  were  described  as  being  places  "  in  which  a  gentleman 
would  be  ashamed  to  lodge  his  hacks  or  his  terriers."0  It  was 
fortunate  for  the  reputation  of  the  College  that  our  two  tra- 
vellers had  not  visited  it  earlier  in  the  summer,  otherwise  they 
would  have  had  to  report  a  disgraceful  sight  which  three  years 
later  shocked  John  Wesley.  It  was  soon  after  the  beginning  of 
the  Long  Vacation  that  he  was  there,  before  the  glaziers  had 
repaired  the  wreck  which  marked  the  end  of  the  yearly  course. 
It  was  the  custom,  he  was  told,  for  the  students  to  break  all  the 
windows  before  they  left.  "  Where,"  asks  Wesley,  indignantly, 

1  G.  M.  Berkeley's  Poems,  p.  cccxcvi.  guese. "    Hoswell  gives  it  the  same  name,  though 

2  Topham's  Letters  from  EJinlmrg/i,  p.  208.  he   spells    it    differently — St.    Salvador's.       By 

3  G.  M.  Berkeley's  Poems,  p.  cccxlix.  1807  I  find  it  called  in  Grid-son's  Delineations 

4  Wesley '•*  Journal,  iv.  77.  of  St.    Andrews,  as    it    is  at   present,    St.    Sal- 
•'   Tour  through    Great  Britain  :   Account  of  valor's. 

Scotland,  iii.  154.     Defoe  calls  it  St.  Salvadore's,  u  St.  AnJrnus  as  it  was  and  as  it  is,  p.  157. 

and  wonders  "how  it  was  made  to  speak  Portu- 


ioo  "WINDOW-CROONS.' 

arc  their  blessed  Governors  in  the  mean  time  ?  Are  they  all  fast 
asleep  ?  "  '  The  young  Etonian,  Bishop  Berkeley's  grandson,  had 
the  merit  of  putting  an  end  to  this  bad  practice.  On  entrance  he 
was  required  to  deposit  a  crown  for  window-money  ;  when,  model 
of  virtue  as  he  was,  he  objected  that  he  had  never  yet  broken  a 
window  in  his  life,  and  was  not  likely  to  begin,  he  was  assured  that 
he  would  before  he  left  St.  Andrews.  The  College  porter,  who 
collected  "  these  window-croons,"  told  him  of  a  poor  student  who 
had  shed  tears  on  being  called  on  to  pay.  His  father,  a  cottar, 
had  sold  one  of  his  three  cows  to  find  money  for  his  education  at 
the  university,  and  had  sent  him  up  with  a  large  tub  of  oatmeal,  a 
pot  of  salted  butter,  and  five  shillings  in  his  pocket.  Sixpence  of 
this  money  had  already  been  spent,  and  the  rest  the  porter  took.'' 
When  the  window-breaking  time  came  on,  and  Berkeley  was  sum- 
moned to  take  his  part  in  the  riot,  he  refused.  As  a  boy  at  Eton, 
he  said,  though  sometimes  with  more  wine  in  his  head  than  was 
good  for  him,  he  had  never  performed  such  a  valiant  feat,  and  he 
was  not  therefore  going  to  begin  as  a  young  man.  His  comrades 
yielded  to  his  remonstrances,  and  the  windows  were  no  longer 
broken.3 

At  St.  Mary's  College  Johnson  was  shown  the  fine  library 
which  had  been  finished  within  the  last  few  years.  Dr.  Murison, 
the  Principal,  was  abundantly  vain  of  it,  for  he  seriously  said  to 
him,  "  You  have  not  such  a  one  in  England."  Johnson,  though  he 
has  his  laugh  at  the  Doctor  for  hoping  "  to  irritate  or  subdue  his 
English  vanity,"  yet  admits  that  if  "  it  was  not  very  spacious,  it  was 
elegant  and  luminous."  It  is  not,  of  course,  to  be  compared  with  the 
largest  libraries  at  Oxford.  "  If  a  man  has  a  mind  to  prance  "  it  is 
not  at  St.  Andrews,  but  at  Christ  Church  and  All  Souls,  that 
he  must  study.4  Nevertheless  it  confers  great  dignity  on  the 
University,  and  with  its  120,000  volumes  there  is  no  English 
College  that  it  would  disgrace.  Murison's  vanity  had  therefore 
some  excuse.  He  was,  however,  a  man  "  barely  sufficient  "  for  the 
post  which  he  held.  Over  his  slips  in  Latin  the  lads  sometimes 
made  merry.  In  the  Divinity  Hall  he  one  day  rebuked  a  student 

1  Wesley '*  Journal,  iv.  77.  were  more  commodious  and  pleasant  for  study 

1  Berkeley  and  his  friend,  the  young  Laird  of  [than  the  library  of  Trinity  College],  as  being 

Kincaldrum,  raised  "a  very  noble  subscription"  more  spacious  and  airy,  he  replied,  'Sir,   if  a 

for  the  poor  lad.  man  has  a  mind  to  prance,  he  must  study  at 

3  G.  M.  Berkeley's  Poems,  p.  cccxlviii.  Christ    Church    and    All   Souls.'  "      Boswell's 

4  "  On   my   observing   to   Dr.  Johnson    that  Johnson,  ii.  67,  «.  2. 
some  of  the  modern  libraries  of  the  university 


A   FINE    PLANE   TREE. 


lot 


for  delivering  ;i  discourse  which  was  too  high-flown  and  poetical. 
"  Lord  help  him,  poor  man!  "  said  the  indignant  youngster,  "  He 
knows  no  better." 

On  the  second  day  of  our  travellers'  stay  "  they  went,"  says 
Boswell,  "and  saw  Colonel  Nairne's  garden  and  grotto.  Here  was 
a  fine  old  plane  tree.'2  Unluckily  the  Colonel  said  there  was  but 
this  and  another  large  tree  in  the  country/  This  assertion  was  an 


ST.    MARY  S   COLLEGE   LIBRARY. 


excellent  cue  for  Dr.  Johnson,  who  laughed  enormously,  calling  to 
me  to  hear  it."  The  Colonel's  father,  Lord  Nairne,  had  been  "  out 
in  the  "45,"  while  the  son,  who  fought  in  the  King's  army,  had  been 
sent  to  batter  down  the  old  castle  of  his  forefathers.  George  II. 
wished  to  reward  his  fidelity  with  the  command  of  a  regiment,  but 


1  Scotland  an//  Scotchmen  in  the  Eighteenth 
Century,  \.  26g,  547.   The  youngster  was  Jerome 
Stone,  the  author  of  a  poem  called  Albin  ami 
the  Daughter  of  Mcy,  mentioned  l>y  Boswell  in 
his  Life  of  Johnson,  v.  171. 

2  It  was  probably   a   sycamore,  for,   as  was 
pointed  out  by  a  writer  in  the  Gentleman's  Maga- 


zine for  1837,  p.  343,  what  the  Scotch  call  syca- 
mores we  call  planes. 

3  The  other  tree,  according  to  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  was  probably  the  Prior  Letham  plane, 
measuring  about  twenty  feet  round.  It  stood  in 
a  cold  exposed  situation  apart  from  every  other 
tree.  Croker's  Boswell,  p.  286, 


102  A    REVIVING    UNIVERSITY. 

was  hindered  by  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  "who  told  the  King 
that  it  was  impossible  that  a  man  who  had  suffered  so  much  could 
ever  forget  or  forgive  it."  1 1  is  garden  and  grotto  were  at  the  back 
of  the  Chape;!.  The  grotto  has  disappeared  with  its  "  petrified 
stocks  of  trees,"  unless  perchance  some  remains  of  it  are  seen  in  a 
small  building,  which  looks  like  a  private  chapel,  and  which  might 
have  been  transformed  by  that  ingenious  collector  of  curiosities,  the 
Colonel.  The  plane  tree  survived  till  about  the  beginning  of  the 
century.  An  old  gentleman  still  living  was  told  by  his  grandfather 
that  in  the  branches  a  wooden  platform  had  been  built,  on  which 
tea-parties  were  held.'2  I  remember  seeing  in  my  boyhood  a  similar 
platform  in  a  large  willow-tree  overhanging  Isaac  Walton's  sedgy 
Lea.  That  the  good  people  of  St.  Andrews  have  not  in  their 
traditions  made  Johnson  drink  a  dozen  or  two  cups  of  tea  in  this  airy 
summer-house  is  a  proof  either  of  their  truthfulness  or  of  the  slug- 
gishness of  their  imagination. 

Every  Scotchman,  it  was  said  long  ago,  thought  it  his  duty  once 
in  his  life  to  visit  "  the  city  of  the  scarlet  gown  "  and  to  see  the  ruins 
of  the  great  cathedral/'  No  longer,  happily,  is  the  mind  of  the  pil- 
grim "  filled  with  mournful  images  and  ineffectual  wishes ; "  no 
longer  does  he  see  "a  University  pining  in  decay  and  struggling 
for  life  ;  "  no  longer  does  he  wander  through  grass-grown  streets, 
listening  to  the  sound  of  his  own  solitary  steps.  The  town  is 
thriving  and  animated;  the  University  sees  the  number  of  its 
students  steadily  increasing.  It  had  long  been  depressed  by 
poverty  ;  but  a  noble  endowment  happily  has  this  very  year  '  fallen 
to  its  lot.  If  it  can  never  hope  to  attain  to  those  stately  avenues  and 
lawns  and  gardens  and  buildings,  as  beautiful  as  they  are  venerable, 
which  are  the  boast  of  Oxford,  nevertheless  in  the  bracing  pureness 
of  its  air,  in  its  fine  situation  on  the  shores  of  the  northern  sea,  in  its 
seclusion  from  that  bustle  which  distracts  the  student's  life,  and  from 
that  luxury  which  too  often  makes  poverty,  however  honest,  hang 
its  head,  it  has  advantages  which  are  not  enjoyed  by  any  other  of 
our  Universities. 

1  G.  M.  lierkeley's  Poems,  p.  coxii.  is  told  of  some  people  who  were  at  St.  Andrews 

2  This   piece    of   information    I    owe   to   the  for  only  one  nighl,  and  who,  rather  than  miss 
kindness  of  Mr.  J.  Mailland   Anderson,  the  l.i-  the  ruins,  saw  them  "  by  the  light  of  an  old  horn 
braiian  of  the  University.  lantern." 

3  In  G.   M.   Herkeley's  PMIHS,  p.  Ivi,  a  story  '  Written  in  1889. 


LEUCHARS   CHURCH. 


103 


LEUCHARS  AND  ABERBROTHICK.     (AUGUST  20.) 

Johnson,  closing  his  description  of  St.  Andrews  with  his  lament 
over  its  declining  University,  goes  on  to  say  like  a  wise  man  :— 


LEl'CIIARS. 


"  As  we  knew  sorrow  and  wishes  to  be  vain,  it  was  now  our  busi- 
ness to  mind  our  way."  Perhaps,  as  he  wrote  these  words  he  had 
in  his  memory  two  lines  of  Matthew  Green,  though  they  were 


104 


LEUCHARS    CHURCH. 


originally  used  of  quitting,   not  what  was   painful,  but  what  was 

pleasant— 

"Though  pleased  to  see  the  dolphins  play, 
J  mind  my  compass  and  my  way."  ' 

He  and  Boswell  started  about  noon  for  Montrose  on  the  other  side 
of  tlie  Firth  of  Tay,  a  distance  of  a  little  over  forty  miles,  but  with 
good  reason  made  a  halt  at  Letichars,  on  observing  the  fine  old 
Norman  church."  They  were  fortunate  enough  to  see  it  before  it 


VIEW    ON    THE   TAY. 


was  "restored"  for  nothing  ancient  remains  but  the  apse  and 
chancel.  The  new  portion  in  the  interior  is  ugly  in  the  most 
approved  Scottish  fashion  ;  in  the  outside  it  would  be  insignificant 
were  it  not  added  as  a  vast  excrescence  to  the  ancient  building.  It 
stands  on  a  little  hill  at  the  end  of  the  village,  with  the  churchyard 
round  it  falling  away  on  the  southern  side  in  steep  slopes  to  the 
road.  Hard  by  are  some  well-grown  trees  round  the  Manse  where 
Boswell  waited  on  the  aged  minister,  a  very  civil  old  man,  to  learn 
what  he  could.  He  was  told  that  the  church  was  supposed  to  have 
stood  eight  hundred  years.  St.  Andrews  certainly  can  show 
nothing  so  ancient.  The  village  is  built  solidly  enough  of  stone, 


1   Vosviull's  SO/IHSOH,  iii.  405. 


3  Paterbon's  Itinerary,  ii.  567,  581. 


1 


w 

GO 

o 
tf 

E- 
S 

O 


ABERBROTHICK.  105 

but  seems  careless  of  pleasing  the  eye.  There  are  no  little  gardens 
before  the  houses,  no  roses  trained  up  the  walls,  scarcely  any  flowers 
in  the  windows.  ''  Take  care  of  the  beautiful,  the  useful  will  take 
care  of  itself"  has  not  been  a  gospel  sounded  in  Scottish  ears. 

The  road  to  the  Tay,  which  Boswell  enlivened  by  leading 
Johnson  to  discuss  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  lay  through  a 
pleasant  undulating  country  that  bears  luxuriant  crops  and  at  the  pre- 
sent time  is  no  longer  wanting  in  trees.  Their  chaise  was  taken  across 
the  Firth  in  a  ferry-boat  at  a  charge  of  four  shillings.  How  Johnson, 
who  always  delighted  in  what  he  called  "  the  accommodations  of 
life,"  would  have  exulted  in  the  great  bridge  which  now  spans  the 
flood!  He  would  have  noticed  too  with  pleasure  the  long  avenue 
of  young  trees  planted  along  the  bank.  Passing  through  Dundee, 
"  a  dirty  despicable  town  "  as  he  describes  it,  but  now  the  seat  of  a 
vast  commerce,  they  came  about  the  close  of  the  day  to  the  ruined 
abbey  of  Aberbrothick.1  The  sight  of  these  fragments  of  "  stupen- 
dous magnificence  "  struck  Johnson  perhaps  more  than  anything 
which  he  saw  on  the  whole  of  his  tour.  "  I  should  scarcely  have 
regretted  my  journey,"  he  said,  "  had  it  afforded  nothing  more  than 
the  sight  of  Aberbrothick."  John  Wesley  declared  that  he  "  knew 
nothing  like  the  Abbey  in  all  North  Britain.  I  paced  it  and  found 
it  an  hundred  yards  long.  The  breadth  is  proportionable.  Part  of 
the  west-end  which  is  still  standing  shows  it  was  full  as  high  as 
Westminster  Abbey."  :  It  had  been  left  in  much  the  same  state  of 
neglect  as  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Andrews.  Boswell,  "  whose  in- 
quisitiveness  was  seconded  by  great  activity,"  wanted  to  climb  one 
of  the  towers.  "  He  scrambled  in  at  a  high  window,  but  found  the 
stairs  within  broken,  and  could  not  reach  the  top."  The  entrance 
to  the  other  tower  they  could  not  discern,  and  as  the  night  was 
gathering  upon  them  he  gave  up  the  attempt.  Not  clearly 
remembering  Johnson's  account,  I  told  the  old  man  who  shows 
the  Abbey  that  I  had  read  in  an  old  book  that  a  hundred  years  and 
more  ago  the  staircase  was  broken  down.  "  Then  they  Iced"  he 
answered  angrily,  indignant  for  its  reputation  for  antiquity.  I 
learnt  from  him  that  an  ancient  inn,  which  had  been  recently  pulled 
down,  had  been  found  to  have  been  built  of  the  hewn  stones  taken 
from  the  Abbey.  In  the  ruins  no  doubt  for  many  a  long  year  the 

1  Or  Abtrbrothofk,  as  it  is  called  in  Soulhey's       written  Arbroath,  in  accordance  with  the  pro- 
Ballad  of  the  ftuhcape  Bell.     The  name  is  now       nunciation. 

*  Wesley's  Journal,  iii.  397. 

P 


io6 


THK    CMAI'TKR    HOUSE. 


town  had  had  its  quarry.  Johnson  noticed  one  room  of  which  he 
could  not  conjecture  the  use,  "  as  its  elevation  was  very  dispropor- 
tionate to  its  area."  I  was  told  that  it  was  the  Chapter  Mouse,  but 
my  informant,  a  queer  little  urchin  who  acted  as  under-guide,  was 


-  "^^"'^-'^-"yf^-  -  '-;,-  /  '  ^'-^awf  '}>«•".  "-'?'-  :--^  .  ^^.i 
^^lt&^^^^^^i:^^^^^,'^    ~ 

-"  ^&$&&&!&&P^  •/' 

i   r  —^     **r™!f      ^..^"  '•    .  /t     ^  .-itis-*-—  ' 

«     .'•:'•  -    '  •'      "^ 


A11ERBROT1IICK. 


not  trustworthy,  for  he  informed  me'that  the  ruins  had  been  caused 
by  a  fire  in  which  the  Abbey  was  burnt  clown  a  thousand  years  ago. 
In  this  room  I  found  hanging  on  the  wall  likenesses  of  Mary  Queen 
of  Scots  and  of  Pope  Pius  IX.  Surely  the  bitterness  of  the  Refor- 
mation has  passed  away  even  in  Scotland. 

The  grounds  are  still  used  as  a  graveyard.    Here  and  elsewhere 
in  Scotland  I  noticed  in  the  inscriptions  that  the  English  term  wife 


RUINS    AND    ADVERTISEMENTS.  107 

is  slowly  supplanting  the  old  Scotch  term  spoiisc.  On  one  side  of 
the  great  gateway  two  ugly  arches  have  been  lately  built  as  en- 
trances to  pompous  family  burial  places.  These  excrescences 
should  surely  be  removed  and  the  dead  left  to  their  quiet  insignifi- 
cance. On  the  outside,  underneath  a  lofty  wall,  a  pleasant  bowling- 
green  has  been  laid  out  for  public  enjoyment,  with  flower  borders 
running  round.  The  town  was  keeping  a  public  holiday  the  day  I 
was  there,  and  the  ground  was  thronged  with  players  and  spectators. 
I  was  sorry  to  see  in  many  places  that  ivy  in  the  true  cockney  spirit 
has  been  trained  up  the  ruins.  Unless  the  strong  sea-breezes, 
which  cut  off  the  tops  of  the  trees  as  soon  as  they  show  their  heads 
too  high,  come  to  the  rescue,  it  will  in  time  hide  the  dark  red  sand- 
stone beneath  a  uniform  mantle  of  green.  Though  the  ruins  are 
now  cared  for,  and  the  ground  cleared  of  the  long  grass  and  weeds 
which  hindered  Johnson  from  tracing  the  foundations,  nevertheless 
the  lofty  wall  close  to  the  main  entrance  is  disgraced  by  huge  adver- 
tisements. As  the  stranger  approaches  the  venerable  pile  from 
the  High  Street  he  gives  one  angry  thought  to  the  Town  Council 
which  leases  it  to  the  dealers  in  sewing  machines,  in  blue,  and  in  Irish 
whisky  for  advertising  their  wares.  "  Where  there  is  yet  shame  there 
may  in  time  be  virtue."  Would  that  this  protest  of  mine  may  rouse 
a  feeling  of  shame  in  the  unworthy  guardians  of  so  glorious  a 
ruin  ! 


MONTROSE,  LAURENCEKIRK  AND  MONBODDO  (AUGUST  20-21). 

The  road  along  which  Johnson  and  Boswell  drove  as  they 
journeyed  from  Dundee  through  Arbroath  to  Montrose,  is  described 
by  Defoe  as  a  "  pleasant  way  through  a  country  fruitful  and  be- 
spangled, as  the  sky  in  a  clear  night  with  stars  of  the  biggest  mag- 
nitude, with  gentlemen's  houses,  thick  as  they  can  be  supposed  to 
stand  with  pleasure  and  conveniency."  *  Our  travellers  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  drive  saw  nothing  of  all  this,  for  the  sun  had  set 
before  they  left  the  great  Abbey ;  it  was  not  till  eleven  at 
night  that  they  arrived  at  Montrose.  There  they  found  but  a 
sorry  inn,  where,  writes  Boswell,  "  I  myself  saw  another  waiter 
put  a  lump  of  sugar  with  his  fingers  into  Dr.  Johnson's  lemonade,  for 
which  he  called  him  '  rascal  !  '  It  put  me  in  great  glee  that  our 

'   Uefoe's  Tour,  p.  179. 


loS 


MONTROSE. 


landlord  was  an  Englishman.  I  rallied  the  Doctor  upon  this  and 
he  grew  quiet."  The  town  Johnson  praised  as  "neat" — "neat" 
last  century  stood  very  high  among  the  terms  of  commendation, 
though  it  is  now  supplanted  by  "elegant"  among  Americans,  and 
by  "nice"  among  English  people.  At  the  time  of  the  Rebellion 


ON   THE  WAY   TO   MONTROSE. 

°f  J745.  the  townsfolk  had  been  described  as  "  very  genteel,  but 
disaffected." '  To  the  clerk  of  the  English  chapel  Johnson  gave 
"  a  shilling  extraordinary,  saying,  '  He  belongs  to  an  honest  church.'" 
He  had  the  great  merit  also  of  keeping  his  church  "clean  to  a 
degree  unknown  in  any  other  part  of  Scotland,"  so  that  his  shilling 
was  well  earned. 

1  James  Ray's  History  of  the  Rebellion,  p.  288. 


LAURRNCEKIRK. 


109 


From  Montrose  the  road  led  through  a  country  rich  with  an 
abundant  harvest  that  was  almost  ripe  for  the  sickle,  but  bare  of 
everything  but  crops.  Even  the  hedges,  said  Johnson,  were  of 
stone.  Boswells  calls  this  a  ludicrous  description,  but  it  could 
have  been  easily  defended  as  good  Scotch,  for  in  the  Scots 
Magazine  for  January  of  the  previous  year,  we  read  of  "  the  stone 
hedges  of  Scotland."  l  It  is  strange  that  Johnson  had  not  noticed 
these  roughly-built  walls  in  Northumberland,  for  in  the  northern 
part  of  that  county,  according  to  Pennant,  "hedges  were  still  in 
their  infancy."  :  At  Laurencekirk  our  travellers  stopped  to  dine, 


GARDENSTON    ARMS. 


and  "  respectfully  remembered  that  great  grammarian  Ruddiman," 
who  had  spent  four  years  there  as  schoolmaster.  More  than 
seventy  years  before  their  visit,  Dr.  Pitcairne,  the  author  of  that 
Latin  epitaph  on  Dundee  which  Dryden  translated,  being  weather- 
bound at  the  village  inn,  "  inquired  if  there  were  no  persons  who 
could  interchange  conversation  and  partake  of  his  dinner."  The 
hostess  mentioned  Ruddiman.  He  came,  pleased  Pitcairne,  and 
was  by  him  brought  to  Edinburgh;'  Francis  Garden,  one  of  the 
Scotch  judges,  under  the  title  of  Lord  Gardenston,  the  laird  and 

1  Scots  Magazine.  1772,  p.  25.  2  Pennant's  Tour,  ii.  278. 

3  Chalmers's  Life  of  RudJiman,  p.  24. 


no  A    VILLAGE    LIBRARY. 

almost  the  founder  of  this  thriving  village,  "  had  furnished  the  inn 
with  a  collection  of  books,  that  travellers  might  have  entertain- 
ment for  the  mind  as  well  as  the  body.  Dr.  Johnson  praised  the 
design,  but  wished  there  had  been  more  books,  and  those  better 
chosen."  The  inn  still  stands  with  the  library  adjoining  it.  Round 
the  room  is  hanging  a  series  of  portraits  in  French  chalk  of 
Gardenston's  "  feuars,"  or  tenants,  who,  after  the  laird,  were  the 
chief  people  of  the  place  when  Johnson  and  Boswell  passed 
through.  Many  of  the  books  remain  on  the  shelves,  though  some 
have  been  lost  through  carelessness  or  the  dishonesty  of  travellers. 
There  are  among  them  a  few  works  of  light  literature  such  as 
Dryden's  Virgil,  and  Gil  Bias  in  French,  but  the  solid  reading 
which  most  of  them  afford  makes  us  think  with  a  feeling  of  respect 
that  almost  amounts  to  awe,  of  the  learning  of  the  Scotch  travellers 
in  those  good  old  days.  Tavern  chairs  were  no  thrones  of  human 
felicity  in  Laurencekirk  if  such  works  as  the  following  were  com- 
monly perused  by  those  who  chanced  to  fill  them  : 

Magno's  Observations  on  Anatomy,  in  Latin. 
Keill's  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Astronomy. 
Aristophanes,  with  Latin  notes. 

Boerhaave's  Commentaries  on  the  Aphorisms  of  Diseases,  natu- 
ralized into  English. 

Tull's  Horse-hoeing  Husbandry. 
Watt's  Logic. 
Newton's  Principia. 
Clarke's  Sermons. 
Macliiavclli,  in  Italian.1 

In  Marischal  College,  Aberdeen,  there  is  a  portrait  of  Lord 
Gardenston  in  his  judge's  robes.  He  has  a  somewhat  conceited 
look,  such  as  we  might  expect  in  a  man  who  "  wrote  a  pamphlet 
upon  his  village,  as  if  he  had  founded  Thebes,"  and  who  provided 
such  improving  reading  for  his  weary  fellow-creatures. 

A  mile  or  two  off  the  road  from  Laurencekirk  to  Aberdeen 
lived  the  famous  old  Scotch  judge,  James  Burnett,  Lord  Monboddo. 
"  I  knew,"  wrote  Boswell,  "that  he  and  Dr.  Johnson  did  not  love 
each  other;  yet  I  was  unwilling  not  to  visit  his  Lordship,  and  was 
also  curious  to  see  them  together.  I  mentioned  my  doubts  to  Dr. 
Johnson,  who  said  he  would  go  two  miles  out  of  his  way  to  see 

1  This  information  I  owe  to  the  kindness  of  my  friend  Mr.  Arthur  Gallon. 


LORD   MONBODDO.  in 

Lord  Monboddo."  The  two  men  had  not  much  in  common  except 
their  love  of  learning,  and  their  precision  of  speech.  Monboddo, 
according  to  Foote,  was  an  Elzevir  edition  of  Johnson.  In  a  letter 
to  Mrs.  Thrale  Johnson  thus  describes  him  : 

"  He  has  lately  written  a  strange  book  about  the  origin  of  language,  in  which  he 
traces  monkeys  up  to  men,  and  says  that  in  some  countries  the  human  species  have 
tails  like  other  beasts.  He  inquired  for  these  long-tailed  men  of  lianks,  and  was  not 
well-pleased  that  they  had  not  been  found  in  all  his  peregrinations.  He  talked 
nothing  of  this  to  me,  and  I  hope  we  parted  friends  ;  for  we  agreed  pretty  well,  only 
we  disputed  in  adjusting  the  claims  of  merit  between  a  shopkeeper  of  London  and 
a  savage  of  the  American  wildernesses.  Our  opinions  were,  I  think,  maintained  on 
both  sides  without  full  conviction  ;  Monboddo  declared  boldly  for  the  savage,  and 
I  perhaps  for  that  reason  sided  with  the  citizen." 

Johnson  a  few  years  earlier  had  contrasted  Monboddo  with 
Rousseau,  "who  talked  nonsense  so  well  that  he  must  know  he  was 
talking  nonsense;"  whereas,  he  added,  "chuckling  and  laughing, 
'  I  am  afraid  Monboddo  does  not  know  that  he  is  talking  nonsense.'" 
He  was  undoubtedly  a  man  of  great  learning,  but  he  was  almost 
destitute  of  the  critical  faculty.  In  the  six  volumes  of  his  Ancient 
Metaphysics  we  come  across  such  strange  passages  as  the  following: 

"Not  only  are  there  tailed  men  extant,  but  men  such  as  the  ancients  describe 
Satyrs  have  been  found,  who  had  not  only  tails,  but  the  feet  of  goats,  and  horns  on 
their  heads.  .  .  .  We  have  the  authority  of  a  father  of  the  Church  for  a  greater 
singularity  of  the  human  form,  and  that  is  of  men  without  heads  but  with  eyes  in 
their  breasts.  .  .  .  There  is  another  singularity  as  great  or  greater  than  any  I  have 
hitherto  mentioned,  and  that  is  of  men  with  the  heads  of  dogs."  ' 

After  stating  his  readiness  to  believe  that  "  a  tame  and  gentle 
animal "  once  existed,  "  having  the  head  of  a  man  and  the  body  of 
a  lion,"  he  continues  : 

"  The  variety  of  nature  is  so  great  that  I  am  convinced  of  the  truth  of  what 
Aristotle  says,  that  everything  exists,  or  did  at  some  time  exist,  which  is  possible  to 
exist." " 

The  orang-outang  he  describes  as  being  "  of  a  character  mild 
and  gentle,  affectionate,  too,  and  capable  of  friendship,  with  the 
sense  also  of  what  is  decent  and  becoming."  The  ancients,  he 
stoutly  maintained,  were  in  every  respect  better  and  stronger  than 
their  descendants.  He  shocked  Hannah  More  by  telling  her  that 
"he  loved  slavery  upon  principle."  When  she  asked  him  "  how 
he  could  vindicate  such  an  enormity,  he  owned  it  was  because 
Plutarch  justified  it."4  In  one  respect  he  was  wise  in  following 

1  Ancient  Metaphysics,  iv.  45.  3  Ii>.  p.  55' 

"  Ib.  p.  48.  '  Hannah  More's  Memoirs,  \.  252. 


ii2  LORD    MONBODDO. 

the  example  of  the  ancients.  In  an  age  when  bathing  was  very 
uncommon  even  among  the  wealthy,  he  constantly  urged  the  daily 
use  of  the  cold  hath,  lie  reminded  "our  fine  gentlemen  and 
ladies  that  the  Otaheite  man,  Oinai,  who  came  from  a  country 
where  the  inhabitants  bathed  twice  a  day,"  complained  of  the 
offensive  smell  of  all  the  people  of  England.'  It  was  believed, 
however,  that  Monboddo  impaired  the  health  of  his  children  by  the 
hardy  treatment  to  which  he  exposed  them.  He  despised  Johnson 
because  "he  had  compiled  a  dictionary  of  a  barbarous  language,  a 
work  which  a  man  of  real  genius  rather  than  undertake  would 
choose  to  die  of  hunger."1  In  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  used 
every  year  to  pay  a  visit  to  London,  and  he  always  went  on  horse- 
back, even  after  he  had  passed  his  eightieth  year  "  A  carriage,  a 
vehicle  that  was  not  in  common  use  among  the  ancients,  he  con- 
sidered as  an  engine  of  effeminacy  and  sloth.  To  be  dragged  at 
the  tail  of  horses  seemed  in  his  eyes  to  be  a  ludicrous  degradation 
of  the  genuine  dignity  ol  human  nature.  In  Court  he  never  sat  on 
the  Bench  with  the  other  judges,  but  within  the  Bar,  on  the  seat 
appropriated  for  Peers."'  Yet  with  all  his  singularities  he  was  a 
line  old  fellow.  There  was  no  kinder  landlord  in  all  Scotland.  While 
around  him  the  small  farms  were  disappearing,  and  farmers  and 
cottagers  were  making  room  for  sheep,  it  was  his  boast  that  on  his 
estate  no  change  had  been  made.  Neither  he  nor  his  father  before 
him  had  ever  turned  off  a  single  cottager. 

"  One  of  my  tenants  (he  wrote)  who  pays  me  no  more  than  ,£30  of  rent  has  no 
less  than  thirteen  cottagers  living  upon  his  farm.  I  have  on  one  part  of  my  estate 
seven  tenants,  each  of  whom  possesses  no  more  than  three  acres  of  arable  land,  and 
some  moorish  land  for  pasture,  and  they  pay  me  no  more  than  twelve  shillings  for 
each  acre,  and  nothing  for  the  moor.  I  am  persuaded  I  could  more  than  double 
the  rent  of  their  land  by  letting  it  off  to  one  tenant ;  but  I  should  be  sorry  to  in- 
crease my  rent  by  depopulating  any  part  of  the  country ;  and  I  keep  these  small 
tenants  as  a  monument  of  the  way  in  which  I  believe  a  great  part  of  the  Low- 
lands was  cultivated  in  ancient  times."  ' 

He  befriended  Burns,  who  repaid  his  kindness  by  celebrating 
his  daughter's  beauty  in  his  Address  to  Edinburgh^  and  by  the 
elegy  which  he  wrote  on  her  untimely  death.  In  a  note  to  Guy 
Manncring  Sir  Walter  Scott  describes  his  supper  parties,  "  where 
there  was  a  circulation  of  excellent  Bordeaux  in  flasks  garlanded 
with  roses,  which  were  also  strewed  on  the  table  after  the  manner 

'   Ancient  Metaphysics,  vi.  212.  •'  Scots  Magazine,  1799,  pp.  729-731. 

*   Origin  of  Language,  v.  274.  '   Ancient  Metaphysics,  v.  307. 


MONBODDO    HOUSE.  113 

of  Horace.  The  best  society,  whether  in  respect  of  rank  or  literary 
distinction,  was  always  to  be  found  in  St.  John's  Street,  Canongate. 
The  conversation  of  the  excellent  old  man  ;  his  high,  gentleman- 
like, chivalrous  spirit ;  the  learning  and  wit  with  which  he  defended 
his  fanciful  paradoxes;  the  kind  and  liberal  spirit  of  his  hospitality, 
must  render  these  nodes  ccciucque  dear  to  all  who,  like  the  author 
(though  then  young),  had  the  honour  of  sitting  at  his  board." 

Boswell's  man-servant,  who  had  been  sent  on  to  ascertain 
whether  Lord  Monboddo  was  at  home,  awaited  the  travellers' 
arrival  at  the  turn  in  the  road,  with  the  news  that  they  were 
expected  to  dinner. 

"We  drove,"  says  Boswell,  "over  a  wild  moor.     It  rained,  and  the  scene  was 
somewhat  dreary.     Dr.  Johnson  repeated  with  solemn  emphasis  Macbeth's  speech 

on  meeting  the  witches Monboddo  is  a  wretched  place,  wild  and  naked,  with 

a.  poor  old  house  ;  though,  if  I  recollect  right,  there  are  two  turrets,  which  mark  an 
old  baron's  residence.  Lord  Monboddo  received  us  at  his  gate  most  courteously, 
pointed  to  the  Douglas  arms  upon  his  house,  and  told  us  that  his  great-grandmother 
was  of  that  family." 

The  old  arms  are  still  above  the  door,  with  the  inscription  : 

"  R.  I. 

E.  D. 

1635-" 

"  R.  I."  was  Robert  Irvine,  a  colonel  in  the  army  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  the  Lion  of  the  North,  and  possibly  the  superior  officer 
of  Major  Dugald  Dalgetty.  "  E.  D."  was  Elizabeth  Douglas. 
Their  daughter  married  one  of  the  Burnetts,  of  Crathes  Castle. 
There  is  nothing  wretched,  wild,  or  naked  about  Monboddo  in  the 
present  day.  As  I  saw  it,  no  thought  of  a  "  blasted  heath,"  and  of 
Macbeth's  witches  could  by  any  freak  of  the  imagination  have 
entered  the  mind.  The  land  all  round  has  been  brought  into  culti- 
vation, and  there  is  no  moor  within  five  miles.  The  road  along 
which  I  drove  was  bordered  by  a  row  of  beech  trees,  which  might 
have  been  planted  by  Lord  Monboddo  or  his  father.  The  ancient 
part  of  the  house,  which  remains  much  as  Boswell  saw  it,  though 
large  additions  have  been  made,  so  far  from  striking  one  as  poor  and 
wretched,  has  a  picturesque,  old-fashioned  look  of  decent  comfort. 
Close  to  it  stand  a  holly  and  a  yew,  which  have  seen  the  lapse  of 
more  centuries  than  one.  The  lawns  are  wide  and  soft,  and  very 
pleasant.  Hard  by  a  brook  prattles  along,  almost  hidden  by 
rhododendrons  and  firs.  The  distant  view  of  the  Grampians;  the 
pure,  bracing  air,  whether  the  wind  blows  it  from  the  sea  on  the 

Q 


1 14  MONBODDO    HOUSE. 

east  or  from  the  mountains  on  the  west ;  the  lawns,  the  trees,  the 
old  house,  picturesque  in  itself,  and  interesting  in  its  associations, 
render  Monboddo  a  most  pleasant  abode.  In  the  time  of  the  old 
judge  it  was  no  doubt  bare  enough.  Where  there  are  now  lawns 
and  llower-becls  there  most  likely  corn  and  turnips  grew,  for  he  was 
almost  as  fond  of  farming  as  he  was  of  the  ancients.  When  he  re- 
ceived our  travellers,  "  he  was  dressed,"  says  Boswell,  "  in  a  rustic 


MONliODDO. 


suit,  and  wore  a  little  round  hat.  He  told  us  we  now  saw  him  as 
Fanner  Burnett,  and  we  should  have  his  family  dinner — a  farmer's 
dinner.  He  produced  a  very  long  stalk  of  corn  as  a  specimen  of 
his  crop,  and  said,  '  You  see  here  the  leetas  segetes,'"  An  instance  of 
his  "  agricultural  enthusiasm  "  used  to  be  recounted  by  Sir  Walter 
Scott:  "Returning  home  one  night  after  an  absence  (I  think)  on 
circuit,  he  went  out  with  a  candle  to  look  at  a  field  of  turnips,  then 
a  novelty  in  Scotland."  '  He  had  a  glimpse,  it  should  seem,  of  some 

1   Croker's  Boswell,  p.  288. 


THE    NEW    INN    AT    ABERDEEN.  115 

of  the  wonders  which  chemistry  was  soon  to  work  in  agriculture,  for 
being  one  day  at  Court,  he  told  George  III.  that  the  time  would 
come  when  a  man  would  be  able  to  carry  in  his  waistcoat  pocket 
manure  enough  for  an  acre  of  land.1 

The  "  farmer's  dinner"  was  good  enough  to  satisfy  Dr.  John- 
son, for  he  made  a  very  hearty  meal.  Yet  with  all  the  pride  of  a 
man  who  has  a  vigorous  appetite,  lie  said,  "  I  have  done  greater 
feats  with  my  knife  than  this."  The  low,  square,  panelled  room  in 
which  they  dined  is  much  as  they  saw  it,  with  its  three  windows 
with  deep  recesses  looking  on  to  the  lawns  and  trees.  It  is  a  solid, 
comfortable  apartment,  which  might  have  recalled  to  Johnson's 
memory  an  Oxford  Common- Room,  and  which  harmonized  well 
with  the  solid  talk  he  had  with  his  host.  In  it  there  is  a  curious 
clock,  so  old  that  it  might  have  told  the  hours  to  Colonel  Irvine  and 
his  wife  Elizabeth  Douglas,  and  have  attracted  Johnson's  notice 
by  its  antiquity. 


ABERDEEN  (AUGUST  21-24). 

Late  in  the  afternoon  our  travellers  drove  on  to  Aberdeen. 
"We  had  tedious  driving,"  writes  Boswell,  "and  were  somewhat 
drowsy."  Though  they  "travelled  with  the  gentle  pace  of  a  Scotch 
driver,"  nevertheless  Johnson,  much  as  he  delighted  in  the  rapid 
motion  of  the  English  post-chaise,  bore  this  journey  of  five-and- 
twenty  miles  with  greater  philosophy  than  his  friend.  "  We  did 
not,"  he  writes,  "  affect  the  impatience  we  did  not  feel,  but  were 
satisfied  with  the  company  of  each  other — as  well  riding  in  the 
chaise  as  sitting  at  an  inn."  It  was  not  far  short  of  midnight  when 
they  arrived  at  Aberdeen.  The  "  New  Inn  "  at  which  they  stopped 
was  full,  they  were  told.  "  This  was  comfortless."  Fortunately 
Boswell's  father,  when  on  circuit,  always  put  up  there  for  the  five 
nights  during  which  he  was  required  by  law  to  stay  in  each  assize 
town.2  The  son  was  recognized  by  his  likeness  to  the  father,  and 
a  room  was  soon  provided.  "  Mr.  Boswell's  name,"  writes  Johnson, 
"overpowered  all  objection,  and  we  found  a  very  good  house,  and 
civil  treatment."  A  few  weeks  later  the  old  judge  went  this  same 

1  This  anecdote  I  had  from  Lord  Monboddo's  obliged  to  stay  five  nights  at  every  town  where 
great  grandson,  Captain   Burnett,  of  Monboddo  they  open  their  commission."     Howard's  Slate 
House,  to  whose  courtesy  I  am  much  indebted.  of  Prisons,  ed.  1777,  p.  103. 

2  "In    Scotland    judges   on   the   circuit    are 


n6  ABERDEEN    TOWN    HOUSE. 

circuit.  "  Two  men  being  indicted  before  him  at  Aberdeen  on  Sep- 
tember 30  for  petty  thefts,  petitioned,  and  were  banished  to  the 
plantations  for  life,  their  service  adjudged  for  seven  years  to  the 
transporter."  '  What  these  poor  wretches  had  "  petitioned  "  was 
that  they  might  be  transported  instead  of  being  hanged.  The 
"  transporter,"  who  bore  the  cost  of  shipping  them  to  America,  was 
rewarded  for  his  outlay  by  having  the  use  of  them  as  slaves  for 
seven  years.  At  the  end  of  that  time  they  would  have  their 
freedom  ;  but  if  they  returned  to  Scotland,  and  were  seized,  in  all 
likelihood  they  would  have  been  sent  to  the  gallows  under  their  old 
sentence.  It  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  these  two  thieves  were 
in  the  town  prison  at  the  very  time  of  our  travellers'  visit.  If  so, 
they  were  separated  from  them  merely  by  a  wall  or  two ;  for  the 
"New  Inn  "formed  part  of  the  same  block  of  buildings  as  the 
common  prison.  In  the  central  tower  the  ordinary  prisoners  were 
confined,  two  rooms  in  the  western  end  being  reserved  for  bur- 
gesses, "  or  any  of  the  better  rank  who  were  committed  for  debt." 
The  judge  in  all  the  festivities  of  his  circuit  dinner  was  often  close 
to  some  poor  wretch  whom  that  same  day  he  had  sentenced  to  the 
gallows,  and  who  was  awaiting  his  dreadful  end  in  the  gloom  and 
misery  of  his  dismal  cell. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  tower,  but  in  the  same  block,  was  the 
Town  House,  or  Town  Hall  as  we  should  call  it  in  England. 
When  I  was  in  Aberdeen,  a  man  of  whom  I  asked  the  way  to  the 
Town  Hall,  replied  that  he  did  not  know  where  it  was ;  but  when 
I  corrected  myself,  and  asked  for  the  Town  House,  he  at  once 
showed  it  me.  Here  it  was  that  the  freedom  of  the  city  was  con- 
ferred on  Johnson. 

"  At  one  o'clock  (writes  Boswcll)  we  waited  on  the  magistrales  in  the  town-hall, 
as  they  had  invited  us  in  order  to  present  Dr.  Johnson  with  the  freedom  of  the 
town,  which  Provost  Jopp  did  with  a  very  good  grace.  Dr.  Johnson  was  much 
pleased  with  this  mark  of  attention,  and  received  it  very  politely.  There  was  a 
pretty  numerous  company  assembled.  It  was  striking  to  hear  all  of  them  drinking, 
'  Dr.  Johnson  !  Dr.  Johnson  !'  in  the  town-hall  of  Aberdeen,  and  then  to  see  him 
with  his  burgess-ticket,  or  diploma,  in  his  hat,  which  he  wore  as  he  walked  along 
the  street,  according  to  the  usual  custom." 

The  hall  in  which  the  ceremony  was  performed  was  a  room  "  46 
feet  long,  29  broad,  and  18  high,  with  five  large  windows  in  front, 
with  many  elegant  sconces  double-branched  set  round  it,  and  three 

1  Scots  Magazine,  Oct.  1773,  p.  556. 

2  V.  Douglas's  General  Description  of  t lie  East  Coast  of  Scotland,  p.  91. 


THE    FREEDOM    OF    THE    CITY.  ,17 

diamond-cut  crystal  lustres  hanging  from  the  roof."  '  It  has  been 
swept  away  with  the  New  Inn  and  the.  prison,  and  replaced  by  the 
stately  pile  which  rises  on  the  old  site.  The  Scotch  towns  last 
century  seem  to  have  been  somewhat  lavish  in  the  honours  which 
they  conferred.  Pennant  was  made  a  freeman  of  at  least  three  or 
four  places.  Monck  Berkeley,  the  St.  Andrew's  student,  had  the 
freedom  of  Aberdeen  and  some  other  towns  presented  to  him, 
though  he  was  scarcely  nineteen  when  he  left  Scotland.  Like  the 
dutiful  young  gentleman  that  he  was,  "he  constantly  presented  the 
diulomas  to  his  mother  requesting  her  to  take  great  care  of  them." : 
George  Colman  the  younger,  who,  at  the  age  of  eighteen  was  sent 
to  King's  College,  says  in  his  Random  Records:*  "I  had  scarcely 
been  a  week  in  Old  Aberdeen,  when  the  Lord  Provost  of  the  New 
Town  invited  me  to  drink  wine  with  him  one  evening  in  the  Town 
Hall ;  there  I  found  a  numerous  company  assembled.  The  object 
of  this  meeting  was  soon  declared  to  me  by  the  Lord  Provost,  who 
drank  my  health,  and  presented  me  with  the  freedom  of  the  city." 
Two  of  his  English  fellow-students,  of  a  little  older  standing,  had 
received  the  same  honour.  A  suspicion  rises  in  the  mind  that  it 
was  sometimes  not  so  much  a  desire  to  confer  honour  as  to  drink 
wine  at  the  public  expense  which  stirred  up  these  town-councillors. 
Nevertheless,  the  testimony  of  an  English  gentleman,  who  a  few 
years  earlier  had  been  made  a  citizen  of  Glasgow,  goes  far  to- 
wards freeing  them  from  so  injurious  a  supposition.  "  The  magis- 
trates," he  wrote,  "  are  all  men  of  so  reasonable  a  size,  and  so  clear 
of  all  marks  of  gluttony  and  drunkenness,  that  I  could  hardly  be- 
lieve them  to  be  a  mayor  and  aldermen."  With  the  distinction 
itself,  on  whatever  account  it  was  given,  Johnson  was  greatly 
pleased.  "  I  was  presented,"  he  wrote,  "  with  the  freedom  of  the 
city,  not  in  a  gold  box,  but  in  good  Latin.  Let  me  pay  Scotland 
one  just  praise  ;  there  was  no  officer  gaping  for  a  fee ;  this  could 
have  been  said  of  no  city  on  the  English  side  of  the  Tweed."  In 
his  own  University  of  Oxford  the  fee  for  the  honorary  degree  of 
D.C.  L.  used  to  be  ten  guineas.  Cox,  the  Esquire  Bedel,  records 
in  his  Recollections  of  Oxford,  how  glum  Canning  looked  when  he 
was  called  on  to  pay  it/'  Wesley,  who  in  the  April  of  the  previous 
year  had  been  made  a  freeman  of  Perth,  praised  the  Latinity  in 

1  F.  Douglas's  General  Description ,  &Y.  ,  p.  4  Gentlemiuts  Magazine,  1766,  p.  210. 

89.  5  Cox's    Recollections  of  Oxford  (eel.    1868), 

2  G.  M.  Berkeley's  Poems,  p.  cclxxiv.  p.  156 

3  Vol.  ii.  p.  99. 


u8  THE   CHAPEL    AT   ABERDEEN. 

which  the  honour  was  conferred  on  him.  "  I  doubt,"  he  wrote, 
"  whether  any  diploma  from  the  City  of  London  be  more  pompous 
or  expressed  in  better  Latin." 

The  burgess-ticket  or  parchment  on  which  the  freedom  was 
inscribed,  after  being  read  aloud  in  the  hall,  was  made  into  a  roll, 
and,  with  the  appending  seal,  was  tied  on  to  the  new  citizen's  hat 
with  red  riband.  "  I  wore,"  wrote  Johnson,  "my  patent  of  freedom 
pro  more  in  my  hat  from  the  new  town  to  the  old,  about  a  mile." 
In  his  narrative  he  states  that  it  is  worn  for  the  whole  day.  In  a 
town  of  16,000  inhabitants —for  Aberdeen  had  no  more  at  that 
time2 — it  might  be  supposed  that  the  face  of  the  youngest  freeman 
would  thus  become  known  to  most  of  his  brother-burgesses.  But 
the  population  at  the  present  day  is  seven  or  eight  times  as  large, 
and  the  old  custom  has  died  out,  perhaps  because  its  use  was  lost. 
On  those  rare  occasions  when  the  honour  is  conferred  the  diploma 
is  still  tied  to  the  hat.  The  new  citizen  covers  himself  for  a 
moment,  and  then  bares  his  head  while  he  returns  thanks.  He 
might,  I  was  told,  perhaps  wear  his  ticket  for  a  short  distance  to 
his  hotel  or  a  club,  but  certainly  not  farther.  The  entry  of 
Johnson's  freedom  in  its  good  Latin  still  remains  in  the  City 
Register.  I  read  it  with  much  interest. 

Our  travellers,  as  they  passed  a  Sunday  in  Aberdeen,  went  to 
the  English  chapel.  The  word  chapel,  as  my  friend  Dr.  Murray 
has  clearly  pointed  out  in  his  learned  Dictionary,  which  in  England 
was  generally  used  of  the  places  of  worship  of  the  Nonconformists, 
and  in  Ireland  of  those  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  in  Scotland  was 
properly  and  universally  applied  to  the  English  churches.  It  is 
the  term  used  both  by  Boswell  and  Johnson.  Mrs.  Carlyle  in  one 
of  her  early  letters  describes  a  certain  Haddington  Episcopalian  as 
"a  man  without  an  arm,  who  sits  in  the  chapel."1  "We  found," 
says  Boswell,  "  a  respectable  congregation  and  an  admirable  organ." 
By  respectable  he  meant  what  would  a  little  later  have  been  de- 
scribed as  genteel.  "  The  congregation,"  wrote  Johnson,  "  was 
numerous  and  splendid."  The  volunteer  who  accompanied  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland's  army  in  1747  described  the  chapel  as  the 
finest  he  had  seen  in  Scotland.  "The  handsomest  young  ladies," 
he  adds,  "  are  generally  attendants  of  those  meeting-houses  (as 
they  call  them  here),  and  are  generally  esteemed  as  Jacobites  by 

1  Wesley 'i,  Journal,  iii.  461.  2  Pennant's  Tour,  \.  121. 

3  Early  Letters  off.   W.  Carlyle,  p.  45. 


THE    NONJURING   CLERGY.  119 

the  staunch  Whigs."  Wesley,  who  had  attended  the  service  here 
a  year  earlier  than  Johnson,  "could  not  but  admire  the  exemplary 
decency  of  the  congregation.  This  was  the  more  remarkable," 
he  adds,  "  because  so  miserable  a  reader  I  never  heard  before. 
Listening  with  all  attention  I  understood  but  one  single  word, 
Balak,  in  the  First  Lesson,  and  one  more,  begat,  was  all  I  could 
possibly  distinguish  in  the  Second."  :  The  Aberdeen  chapel  was 
no  doubt  one  of  those  licensed  ones  "  served  by  clergymen  of 
English  or  Irish  ordination,"  where  alone  in  Scotland  the  form  of 
worship  of  the  Church  of  England  could  be  legally  practised.  At 
St.  Andrews  Boswell  recorded  that  he  had  seen  "  in  one  of  its 
streets  a  remarkable  proof  of  liberal  toleration  ;  a  nonjuring  clergy- 
man strutting  about  in  his  canonicals,  with  a  jolly  countenance,  and 
a  round  belly,  like  a  well-fed  monk."  By  an  Act  of  Parliament 
passed  in  1747,  a  heavy  and  cruel  blow  had  been  struck  at  the 
Scotch  nonjurors  as  a  punishment  for  the  support  which  many  of 
them  had  given  to  the  young  Pretender.  Under  severe  penalties 
all  clergymen  were  forbidden  to  officiate  who  had  received  their 
ordination  from  a  nonjuring  bishop,  even  though  they  took  the 
oaths.  They  had  now  to  undergo  some  of  the  suffering  which  in 
their  day  of  triumph  they  had  inflicted  on  the  Covenanters.  They 
in  their  turn  sought  the  shelter  of  woods  and  moors.  We  read  of 
one  of  them  at  Muthill,  in  Perthshire,  "  baptising  a  child  under  the 
cover  of  the  trees  in  one  of  Lord  Rollo's  parks  to  prevent  being 
discovered."3  Two  years  later  one  Mr.  John  Skinner  had  been 
sent  to  Aberdeen  jail  for  six  months  for  officiating  contrary  to  law. 
He  survived  this  persecution  fifty-five  years,  and  so  was  contem- 
porary with  persons  still  living.4  By  another  act  all  episcopal 
clergymen  were  required,  whenever  they  celebrated  worship  before 
five  people,  to  pray  for  the  King  and  the  members  of  the  Royal 
Family  by  name,  under  the  penalty  of  six  months'  imprisonment 
for  the  first  offence,  and  of  banishment  to  America  for  life  for  the 
second.  Many  under  this  act  were  thrown  into  jail,  and  so  late  as 
1755  one  unhappy  man  was  banished  for  life.5  Others  complied 
with  the  law  at  the  expense  of  their  lungs.  An  English  lady  who 

1  A  Journey  through  Part  of  England,  d-v.,  3  Chambcrs's  History  of  the  Rebellion  o/  1745 
p.  134.  (ed.  1827),  ii.  339. 

2  Wesley's   Journal,    iii.    461.     The   lessons  4  Scotland  and  Scotsmen    in   the  I-.i^litu-nlh 
were  Numbers  xxiii.  xxiv.,  and  Matthew  \.     In  Century,  \.  525-8. 

these  chapters  Balak  and  begat  come  over  and  "'  Arnot's  Histoiy  of  Edinburgh,  p.  227. 

over  again. 


120  THE    UNIVERSITIES    OF    ABERDEEN. 

visited  Scotland  about  the  year  1778,  says:  "I  have  heard  a 
reverend  old  divine  say  that  he  has  read  the  English  liturgy  so 
repeatedly  over  to  only  four  that  frequently  by  evening  he  has 
scarce  been  able  to  speak  to  be  heard."  The  persecutions  had 
come  to  an  end  by  the:  time  of  Johnson's  visit.  The  nonjuring 
ministers  were,  he  says,  "  by  tacit  connivance  quietly  permitted  in 
separate  congregations."  On  the  death  of  the  young  Pretender  on 
January  3ist,  1788,  the  nonjuring  bishops  met  at  Aberdeen  and 
directed  that,  beginning  with  Sunday,  May  25th,  King  George 
should  be  prayed  for  by  name.  His  Majesty  was  graciously 
pleased  to  notify  his  approbation."  liven  a  tutor  or  "  pedagogue  " 
in  a  gentleman's  family  was  required  to  take  the  oaths.  This 
difficulty,  however,  was  easily  surmounted.  They  could  be  en- 
gaged "  under  the  name  of  factor,  or  clerk,  or  comrade,"  as  the 
Bishop  of  Moray  pointed  out  in  a  letter  written  in  1754." 

In  Aberdeen  there  were  two  Colleges,  or  rather  two  Universities, 
for  each  had  professors  of  the  same  parts  of  learning  and  each  con- 
ferred degrees.  In  1860  they  were  incorporated  into  one  body.  In 
old  Aberdeen  stood  King's  College.  The  Chapel  and  its  "  Crowned 
Tower,"  founded  by  James  IV.  who  fell  at  Flodden,  has  survived 
time  and  restorers.  They  are  much  as  Johnson  saw  them.  Of 
their  architectural  beauty  and  of  the  ancient  richly  carved  oak 
screen  he  makes  no  mention  :  "  He  had  not  come  to  Scotland,"  he 
said,  "to  see  tine  places,  of  which  there  were  enough  in  England  ; 
but  wild  objects — peculiar  manners  ;  in  short,  things  which  he  had 
not  seen  before."  The  discipline  of  the  Universities  and  the 
method  and  cost  of  instruction  he  examined  with  attention.  In 
Scotch  universities  the  students  generally  lived — as  they  live  at 
present — in  lodgings  in  the  town,  scarcely  under  even  the  pretence 
of  control  except  in  the  hours  in  which  they  attended  lectures.  But 
in  King's  College  a  few  years  earlier  the  English  system  had  been 
introduced.  Dr.  Thomas  Reid,  the  famous  Professor  of  Moral 
Philosophy,  in  a  letter  written  in  1755  gives  an  interesting  account 
of  the  change  which  had  been  made  : 

"Th*;  students  have  lately  been  compelled  to  live  within  the  college.  We  need 
but  look  out  at  our  windows  to  see  when  they  rise  and  when  they  go  to  bed.  They 
are  seen  nine  or  ten  times  throughout  the  day  statedly  by  one  or  other  of  the  masters 
— at  public  prayers,  school  hours,  meals,  and  in  their  rooms,  besides  occasional  visits 

1  G.  M.  Berkeley's  Poems,  p.  dxxxviii.  "  Scots  Magnetic  for  1788,  pp.  250,  357. 

3  Ounbar's  Social  Lijc  in  Fonnet'  Days,  i.  10. 


KINO'S  COLLI<;GK.  |Z, 

which  we  can  make  with  little  trouble  to  ourselves.  They  are  shut  up  within  walls 
at  nine  at  night.  This  discipline  hath  indeed  taken  some  pains  and  resolution,  as 
well  as  some  expense  to  establish  it.  The  board  at  the  first  table  is  50  merles'  per 
quarter  ;  at  the  second,  40  shillings.  The  rent  of  a  room  is  from  seven  to  twenty 
shillings  in  the  session.  There  is  no  furniture  in  their  rooms  but  bedstead,  tables, 
chimney  grate  and  fender — the  rest  they  must  buy  or  hire.  They  provide  fire,  and 
candle,  and  washing  to  themselves.  The  other  dues  are  two  guineas  to  the  Master  ; 
to  the  Professors  of  Greek  and  Humanity  f  Latin')  for  their  public  teaching,  five 
shillings  each.  All  other  perquisites  not  named,  from  twelve  shillings  to  seventeen 
and  sixpence."2 


KINGS   COLLKGE,    ABERDEEN. 

Whether  this  reformed  system  lasted  in  its  full  extent  to  the  time 
of  Johnson's  visit,  I  do  not  know  ;  some  part  of  it  at  all  events  re- 
mained. "In  the  King's  College,"  he  says,  "there  is  kept  a  public 
table,  but  the  scholars  of  the  Marischal  College  are  boarded  in  the 
town."  In  Aberdeen,  as  well  as  in  the  other  Scotch  Universities, 
students  from  England  were  commonly  found.  Johnson  was  sur- 
prised at  finding  in  King's  College  a  great-grandson  of  Waller  the 


1  A  Scotch  mcrk  was  about  thirteen  pence  of 
English  money. 


2  Dunbnr's  Social  Life  in  f'ormcr  Days,  i.  7. 


R 


122  ENGLISH    STUDENTS. 

poet.  Hut  in  the  state  of  degradation  into  which  the  English 
Universities  were  sunk,  what  was  more  natural  than  that  young 
Englishmen  should  be  sent  to  places  where  the  Professors  still 
remembered  that  they  had  a  duty  to  perform  as  well  as  a  salary  to 
receive  ?  I  have  seen  in  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh  a  manu- 
script letter  written  by  Dr.  Hlair  from  that  town  to  David  Hume  in 
i  765,  in  which  he  says  : — "  Our  education  here  is  at  present  in  high 
reputation.  The  Englishes  are  crowding  down  upon  us  every 


MARISCHAI.   COLLEGE. 


season,  and  I  wish  may  not  come  to  hurt  us  at  last."  Excellent 
though  the  Aberdeen  Professors  were  as  teachers,  yet  before  the 
great  Englishman  they  seemed  afraid  to  speak.  Johnson,  writing 
to  Mrs.  Thrale,  said  : — "  Boswell  was  very  angry  that  they  would 
not  talk." 

In  Marischal  College  scarcely  a  fragment  remains  of  the  old 
building  which  our  travellers  saw,  except  the  stone  with  the  curious 
inscription  : — "  Thay  haif  said  ;  quhat  say  thay  ;  lat  thame  say."  In 
the  spacious  modern  library  is  shown,  however,  a  famous  picture 


REYNOLDS'S    PORTRAIT    OF    BEATTIE.  123 

which  Reynolds  was  at  that  time  painting.  On  that  very  morning 
when  Robertson  was  showing  Johnson  Holyrood  Palace,  Reynolds 
began  the  allegorical  picture  in  which  he  represented  Truth  and  the 
amiable  and  harmonious  Beattie  triumphing  together  over  scepticism 
and  infidelity.1  It  was  commonly  said  that  in  the  group  of  dis- 
comfited figures  could  be  recognized  the  portraits  of  Voltaire  and 
Hume.  Goldsmith,  if  we  may  trust  Northcote,  reproached 
Reynolds  "  for  wishing  to  degrade  so  high  a  genius  as  Voltaire 
before  so  mean  a  writer  as  Dr.  Beattie."1  If  Voltaire's  face  is  to 
be  found  in  the  picture,  the  likeness  is  so  remote  that  even  he, 
sensitive  though  he  was,  could  scarcely  have  take  offence,  while  of 
Hume  not  even  the  caricature  can  be  discovered.  Feeble  though 
the  allegory  is,  the  portrait  of  Beattie  is  a  very  fine  piece  of  work- 
manship. In  Marischal  College,  by  the  generosity  of  his  grand- 
nieces  it  has  found  its  fitting  resting-place,  for  here  for  many  years 
he  was  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy.  Here  a  few  years  earlier 
he  had  been  visited  by  Gray,  who,  to  quote  Johnson's  words, 
"  found  him  a  poet,  a  philosopher,  and  a  good  man.": 


SLAINS  CASTLE  AND  THE  BULLERS  OF  BUCHAN. 

(AUGUST  24-25.) 

At  Aberdeen  Johnson  had  found  awaiting  him  a  letter  from 
London  which  must  have  been  six  days  on  the  road.'  He  did  not 
receive  another  till  he  arrived  at  Glasgow,  nearly  ten  weeks  later. 
He  was  now  going  "  to  the  world's  end  extra  anni  solisqnc  vias, 
where  the  post  would  be  a  long  time  in  reaching  him,"  to  apply  to 
the  Hebrides  the  words  which  four  years  later  he  used  of  Brighton.'' 
It  was  only  seven  and  twenty  years  before  he  drove  out  from 
Aberdeen  that  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  with  six  battalions  of  foot 
and  Lord  Mark  Kerr's  dragoons  had  marched  forth  along  the  same 
road  to  seek  the  rebels.  With  a  gentle  breeze  and  a  fair  wind  his 
transports  at  the  same  time  moved  along  shore."  Though  no 

1  Forbes's  Life  of  Beattie,  p.  160.  half  by  the  Aberdeen  and  Edinburgh  Fly,  which 

*  Northcote's  Life  of  Reynolds  (ed.  1819),  i.  set  out  from  the  New  Inn  at  four  o'clock  in  the 

300.  morning,  and  arrived  at  Edinburgh  next  day  to 

3  Johnson's  Works,  viii.  479.  dinner ;  fare,  £2  2s.  Scottish  Notes  and  Queries, 

1  In   1786  the   post    despatched   from    Aber-  i.  31. 

deen  on  Monday  reached  London  on  Saturday.  '  Piozzi  Letters,  i.  387. 

Travellers  could  reach  Edinburgh  in  a  day  and  a  "  Ray's  History  of  the  Rebellion,  p.  310. 


124 


THK    ROAD    TO    SI.A1NS   CASTLK. 


military  slate  waited  upon  our  travellers  yet  their  fame  went  before 
them.  At  Kllon,  where  they  breakfasted,  the  landlady  asked 
Boswell  :  "  Is  not  this  the  great  Doctor  that  is  going  about  through 
the  country  ?  There's  something  great  in  his  appearance."  "They 
say,"  said  the  landlord,  "  that  he  is  the  greatest  man  in  England, 
except  Lord  Mansfield."  They  turned  here  out  of  their  course  to 
visit  Slains  Castle,  the  seat  of  the  Earl  of  Errol.  The  country 
over  which  they  drove  this  day  was  more  desolate  than  any  through 


which  they  had  as  yet  passed.  In  one  place,  writes  Johnson,  "  the 
sand  of  the  shore  had  been  raised  by  a  tempest,  and  carried  to  such 
a  distance  that  an  estate  was  overwhelmed  and  lost."  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  who  in  the  summer  of  1814,  sailed  along  the  shore  in  a 
Lighthouse  Yacht,  says  that  northwards  of  Aberdeen  "  the  coast 
changes  from  a  bold  and  rocky  to  a  low  and  sandy  character. 
Along  the  Bay  of  Belhelvie  a  whole  parish  was  swallowed  up  by  the 
shifting  sands,  and  is  still  a  desolate  waste.  It  belonged  to  the 
Earls  of  Errol,  and  was  rented  at  ,£500  a  year  at  the  time.  When 


SLAINS    CASTLK.  I2s 

these  sands  are  past  the  land  is  all  arable.  Nut  a  tree  to  be  seen; 
nor  a  grazing  cow,  or  sheep,  or  even  a  labour-horse  at  grass,  though 
this  be  Sunday." '  The  Earl  who  welcomed  Johnson  to  Slains  Castle 
had  done  what  he  could  to  overcome  nature.  "  He  had  cultivated 
his  fields  so  as  to  bear  rich  crops  of  every  kind,  and  he  had  made  an 
excellent  kitchen-garden  with  a  hot-house."  His  successors  have 
diligently  followed  in  his  steps,  and  taking  advantage  of  a  hollow  in 
the  ground  have  even  raised  an  avenue  of  trees.  They  can  only 
grow  to  the  height  of  fifteen  or  twenty  feet,  for  when  the  shoots  rise 
high  enough  to  catch  the  blasts  from  the  North  Sea  they  are  cut 
down  the  following  winter.  The  situation  of  the  Castle  struck 
Johnson  as  the  noblest  he  had  ever  seen. 

"  From  the  windows  (he  said)  the  eye  wanders  over  the  sea  that  separates  Scot- 
land from  Norway,  and  when  the  winds  beat  with  violence,  must  enjoy  all  the  terrific 
grandeur  of  the  tempestuous  ocean.  I  would  not  for  my  amusement  wish  for  a  storm  ; 
but  as  storms,  whether  wished  or  not,  will  sometimes  happen,  I  may  say,  without 
violation  of  humanity,  that  I  should  willingly  look  out  upon  them  from  Slains 
Castle." 

Boswell  was  also  impressed  with  the  position  of  this  old  house, 
set  on  the  very  verge  of  life.  "  The  King  of  Denmark,"  he  says, 
"  is  Lord  Errol's  nearest  neighbour .  on  the  north-east."  The 
Castle  was  built  on  the  edge  of  the  granite  cliffs,  in  one  spot  not 
leaving  even  a  foothold  for  the  daring  climber.  A  foolhardy  fellow 
who  had  tried  to  get  round  lost  his  life  in  the  attempt.  I  was 
greatly  disappointed  at  finding  that  "the  excellent  old  house" 
which  Boswell  describes,  with  its  outside  galleries  on  the  first  and 
second  story,  no  longer  remains.  I  had  looked  forward  to  standing 
in  the  very  bow-window  of  the  drawing-room  fronting  the  sea  where 
Johnson  repeated  Horace's  Ode,  Jam  satis  tcrris.  In  the  new 
building,  however,  the  bow-window  has  not  been  forgotten, — and 
there  I  looked  out  on  the  wild  scene  which  met  his  view.  I  saw 
"  the  cut  in  the  rock  made  by  the  influx  of  the  sea,"  into  which  the 
rash  climber  had  fallen  as  he  tried  to  go  round  the  Castle.  Below 
me  there  were  short  slopes  of  grass  ending  in  a  precipice.  So 
near  was  the  edge  that  a  child  could  have  tossed  a  ball  over  it  from 
the  window.  Red  granite  rocks  in  sharp  and  precipitous  headlands 
ran  out  into  the  sea.  A  fishing-boat  with  brown  sails  was  passing 
close  by,  while  in  the  distance  in  a  long  line  lay  a  fleet  of  herring- 
smacks.  The  sea-birds  were  hovering  about  and  perching  on  the 

1  Lockhart's  Lift  of  Scott,  iv.  1 86. 


126 


A   SHIPWRECK    OFF    SLAINS    CASTLE. 


rocks,  mingling  their  melancholy  cries  with  the  dashing  of  the 
waves.  The  dark  waters  were  surging  through  the  narrow  chasms 
formed  by  rocky  islets  and  the  steep  sides  of  the  cliffs.  For  the 
storm-tost  sailor  it  is  a  dreadful  coast.  On  a  wild  night  in  winter 
not  man)'  years  ago  one  of  the  maids,  as  she  was  letting  clown  the 
blinds  in  the  drawing-room,  heard  confused  sounds  which  came,  she 
thought,  from  the  servants'  hall  beneath.  The  butler  in  another 
part  of  the  house  had  caught  them  too.  Yet  when  they  reproached 
their  fellow-servants  with  their  noisiness  they  were  told  that  it  was 
not  from  them  that  the  sounds  had  come.  They  thought  no  more 


SLAINS   CASTLE. 


about  it  that  night,  but  next  morning  when  the  day  broke  the  masts 
were  seen  of  a  ship-wrecked  vessel  on  the  rocks  below  the  Castle. 
The  waves  were  breaking  over  it,  and  not  a  soul  was  left  alive. 
Then  they  understood  that  it  was  the  despairing  cries  of  the 
unhappy  sailors  which  had  in  vain  reached  their  ears.  The  story, 
that  was  told  me  as  I  stood  looking  out  on  the  sea,  gave  an  air  of 
sadness  to  a  room  which  had  already  raised  sad  thoughts  in  my 
mind.  For  on  the  wall  was  hanging  the  portrait  of  an  innocent  and 
pretty  boy  who,  before  so  many  years  were  to  pass  over  him,  on  the 
scaffold  on  Tower  Hill  was  to  pay  the  penalty  of  rebellion  with  his 

life. 

"  Pitied  by  gentle  minds  Kilmarnock  died." 


THE    EAR],    OF    KILMARNOCK.  127 

On  the  table  was  lying  a  curious  but  gloomy  collection  of  the 
prints  of  his  trial  and  execution.1  Boswell's  rest  was  troubled  by 
the  thoughts  of  this  unhappy  nobleman.  He  had  been  kept  awake 
by  the  blazing  of  his  fire,  the  roaring  of  the  sea,  and  the  smell  of 
his  pillows,  which  were  made  of  the  feathers  of  some  sea-fowl.  "  I 
saw  in  imagination,"  he  writes,  "  Lord  Errol's  father,  Lord  Kil- 
marnock,  who  was  beheaded  on  Tower  Hill  in  1746,  and  I  was 
somewhat  dreary." 

In  the  drawing-room  was  hanging  that  fine  whole-length  picture 
of  Lord  Errol,  which  led  Johnson  to  talk  of  his  friend,  the  great 
painter,  and  "to  conclude  his  panegyric  by  saying,  'Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds,  sir,  is  the  most  invulnerable  man  I  know  ;  the  man  with 
whom  if  you  should  quarrel,  you  would  find  the  most  difficulty  how 
to  abuse.' " 

In  the  rebellion  of  1/45,  Lord  Errol,  following  a  plan  not  un- 
known among  the  Scotch  nobility,  had  served  on  the  opposite  side 
from  his  father.  At  Culloden  he  had  seen  him  brought  in  prisoner. 
"  The  Earl  of  Kilmarnock  had  lost  his  hat,  and  his  long  hair  was 
flying  over  his  face.  The  son  stepped  out  of  the  ranks,  and  taking 
off  his  own  hat  placed  it  over  his  father's  disordered  and  wind- 
beaten  locks."1  The  young  man  in  his  loyalty  to  George  II.,  did 
not  follow  the  example  of  his  forefathers,  for  he  was  descended 
from  at  least  three  lines  of  rebels.  "  He  united  in  his  person  the 
four  earldoms  of  Errol,  Kilmarnock,  Linlithgow,  and  Callander." 
The  last  two  were  attainted  in  1715,  and  Kilmarnock  in  I746.3 
As  we  gaze  at  the  haughty-looking  man  whom  Reynolds  has  so 
finely  painted  in  the  robes  of  a  peer,  we  call  to  mind  the  corona- 
tion of  George  III.,  where  he  played  his  part  as  High  Constable 
of  Scotland — "  the  noblest  figure  I  ever  saw,"  wrote  Horace  Wai- 
pole.1  To  Johnson  he  recalled  Homer's  character  of  Sarpedon.5 
At  the  coronation  banquet  in  Westminster  Hall,  Walpole  thought, 
as  well  he  might,  on  that  "  most  melancholy  scene  "  which  he  had 
witnessed  less  than  fifteen  years  before  in  that  same  hall,  when  the 
earl's  father,  "  tall  and  slender,  his  behaviour  a  most  just  mix- 

1  Bound  up  with  them  were  some  interesting  3  Chambers's   History  of  the  Rebellion,   ed. 

and  unpublished  autograph  letters  and  documents  1869,  p.  309. 

connected  with  many  generations  of  the  earls  of          3  Forbes's  Life  of  Bcntlie,  Appendix  I).     At 
Errol.     It  is  greatly  to  be  desired  that  the  pre-  the  time  of  the  rebellion  of  1745  the  Errol  title- 
sent  earl,  to  whose  courtesy  I  am  much  indebted,  was  held  by  a  woman, 
would  have  them  edited.  '  Walpole's  Letters,  iii.  438. 
5   Forbes's  Life  of  Beattie,  Appendix  D. 


128 


THE    BULLKRS    OF    BUCHAN. 


ture  between   dignity  and   submission,"   had   in   vain   pleaded   for 

mercy.' 

From  Slains  Castle  our  travellers  drove  a  short  distance  along 

the    coast    to    the    famous    Bullers    of    Huchan  -"a  sight,"    writes 

Johnson,  "which  no   man  can  see  with  indifference,  who  has  either 

sense  of  danger  or 
delight  in  rarity." 
Boswell  describes  the 
spot  as  :— 

"A  circular  basin  ol 
large  extent,  surrounded 
with  tremendous  rocks. 
On  the  quarter  next  the 
sea,  there  is  a  high  arch  in 
the  rock,  which  the  force 
of  the  tempest  has  driven 
out.  This  place  is  called 


fiucliatfs    Jiitl/er,    or    the 

Bnl/er  of  Jhicltan,  and  the 

country  people  call  it  the 

Pot.     Mr.    Boyd    said    it 

was    so   called    from    the 

French   bouloir?     It   may 

be    more    simply     traced 

from    boiler    in    our    own 

language.        We     walked 

round      this       monstrous 

cauldron.    In  some  places 

the  rock  is  very  narrow ; 

and  on  each  side  there  is 

a  sea  deep  enough  for  a 

man-of-war  to  ride  in  ;  so  that  it  is  somewhat  horrid  to  move  along.     However, 

there  is  earth  and  grass  upon  the  rock,  and  a  kind  of  road  marked  out  by  the  print 

of  feet;  so  that  one  makes  it  out  pretty  safely  :  yet  it  alarmed  me  to  see  Dr.  Johnson 

striding  irregularly  along." 

As  the  weather  was  calm  they  took  a  boat  and  rowed  through 
the  archway  into  the  cauldron.     "  It  was  a  place,"  writes  Johnson, 


THE   BULLERS  OF   BUCHAN. 


1  Walpole's  Letters,  ii.  38. 

"  Boitilloirc.  According  to  Dr.  Murray  the 
word  is  connected  with  "the  Swedish  Iniller,  a 
noise,  roar.  But,"  he  adds,  "the  influence  of 
boil  is  manifest."  I  remember  when  I  visited 


the  place  in  my  youth  I  heard  it  also  called 
Lord  Errol's  Punch-bowl.  The  tale  was  told 
that  a  former  earl  had  made  a  seizure  in  it  of  a 
smuggling  ship  laden  with  spirits,  and  had  had 
the  kegs  emptied  into  the  water. 


DUN    BUY.  129 

"which,  though  we  could  not  think  ourselves  in  danger,  we  could 
scarcely  survey  without  some  recoil  of  mind."  lie  thought  that 
"  it  might  have  served  as  a  shelter  Irom  storms  to  the  little  vessels 
used  by  the  northern  rovers."  Sir  Walter  Scott,  however,  was  told 
that  this  was  impossible,  for  "in  a  high  gale  the  waves  rush  in 
with  incredible  violence.  An  old  fisher  said  he  had  seen  them 
flying  over  the  natural  wall  of  the  Bullers,  which  cannot  be  less  than 
two  hundred  feet  high."1  In  the  Gentleman 's  Magazine  for  1755 
(p.  200),  two  strange  pictures  are  given  of  this  curious  place,  which 
must  surely  have  been  drawn  in  St.  John's  Gate,  Clerkenwell,  by 
an  artist  who  had  never  seen  it. 

Not  far  off  is  Dun  Buy,"  a  lofty  island  rock  placed  in  an  angle 
of  the  shore  that  is  formed  by  no  less  lofty  cliffs.  The  sea,  with 
its  dark  waters  in  endless  rise  and  fall,  washes  through  the  narrow 
channel,  its  ceaseless  murmur  answering  to  the  cries  of  the  count- 
less water-fowl  who  high  up  on  the  ledges  breed  in  safety.  On  one 
side,  where  there  is  a  steep,  grassy  slope,  Dun  Buy  can  be  scaled. 
I  climbed  up  it  many  years  ago  one  hot  summer's  day,  and  thought 
that  I  had  never  seen  so  strange  and  wild  a  spot.  Johnson  had 
also  visited  it,  but  his  mind  was  not  affected  as  was  my  young 
imagination,  for  he  said  that  "  upon  these  rocks  there  was  nothing 
that  could  long  detain  attention." 


BANFF  AND  ELGIN  (AUGUST  25-26). 

Starting  from  Slains  Castle  on  the  morning  of  August  25, 
Boswell  and  Johnson  drove  on  to  Banff,  where  they  spent  the  night 
in  an  indifferent  inn.  In  this  little  town  a  dreadful  sight  had  been 
witnessed  when  the  Duke  of  Cumberland's  army  arrived  on  an 
early  day  in  April,  1746.  The  savage  way  in  which  the  narrative 
is  written,  testifies  to  the  ferocity  of  many  of  the  followers  of  "  the 
butcher  duke." 

"At  Banff"  (writes  Ray)  "  two  rebel  spies  were  taken  ;  the  one  was  knotching  on 
a  stick  the  number  of  our  forces,  for  which  he  was  hanged  on  a  tree  in  the  town  ; 
and  the  other  a  little  out  of  town,  and  for  want  of  a  tree  was  hanged  on  what  they 
call  the  ridging-tree  of  a  house  that  projected  out  from  the  end,  and  on  his  breast 

1  Lockhart's  Life  of  Scott,  iv.  188.  its  name,  it  is  said,  from  the  colour  given  to  it 

-  Uun  liuy  means  (lie  Yellow  Rock.      It  gets        by  llie  clung  of  the  sea-birds. 

S 


i3o  THE   RED    LION    AT    ELGIN. 

was  fixed  in  writing,  A  Rebel  S/>y,  which,  with  the  addition  of  good  entertainment, 
illicit  have  been  a  very  famous  sign."1 

From  Banff  our  travellers  drove  on  to  Elgin,  passing  through 
Lord  Findlater's  domain.  It  is  strange  that  neither  of  them  men- 
tions the  passage  of  the  Spey,  which  ofttimes  was  a  matter  of  great 
difficulty  and  even  danger.  Wesley  describes  it  as  "  the  most  rapid 
river,  next  the  Rhine,  he  had  ever  seen.":  It  was  no  doubt  very 
low,  owing  to  "  that  long  continuance  of  dry  weather  which,"  as  John- 
son complained  a  few  days  later,  "  divested  the  Fall  of  Foyers  of 
its  dignity  and  terror."  At  .Elgin  they  dined,  and  dined  badly. 
"  It  was,"  he  said,  "  the  first  time  he  had  seen  a  dinner  in  Scotland 
that  he  could  not  eat."  He  might  have  reasonably  expected  some- 
thing better,  for  in  the  account  of  Scotch  inns  given  in  the  Gentle- 
man 's  Magazine  for  1771  (p.  544),  the  Red  Lion  at  Elgin,  kept  by 
Leslie,  is  described  as  good.  It  is  added  that  "he  is  the  only 
landlord  in  Scotland  who  wears  ruffles."  As  this  was  the  inn  in 
which  the  civic  feasts  were  always  held,  the  honour  not  only  of 
the  landlord,  but  also  of  the  town  was  wounded  by  the  publication 
of  Johnson's  narrative.  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  inform  the  world 
that  a  satisfactory  explanation  has  been  given,  and  that  Elgin  and 
the  Red  Lion  were  not  guilty  of  the  inhospitality  with  which  they 
have  so  long  been  reproached,  and  so  unjustly.  It  seems  that  for 
some  years  before  Johnson's  visit  a  commercial  traveller,  Thomas 
Paufer  by  name,  used  in  his  rounds  to  come  to  this  inn. 

"  He  cared  little  about  eating,  but  liked  the  more  exhilarating  system  of 
drinking.  His  means  were  limited,  and  he  was  in  the  habit  of  ordering  only  a  very 
slender  dinner,  that  he  might  spend  the  more  in  the  pleasures  of  the  bottle.  This 
traveller  bore  a  very  striking  resemblance  to  Dr.  Johnson.  When  the  doctor  arrived 
at  the  inn,  the  waiter,  by  a  hasty  glance,  mistook  him  for  Paufer,  and  such  a  dinner 
was  prepared  as  Paufer  was  wont  to  receive.  The  doctor  suffered  by  the  mistake, 
for  he  did  not  ask  for  that  which  was  to  follow.  Thus  the  good  name  of  Elgin 
suffered,  through  the  mistaking  of  the  person  of  the  ponderous  lexicographer.  This 
fact  is  well  known,  and  is  authenticated  by  some  of  the  oldest  and  most  respectable 
citizens  of  the  town."J 

Mr.  Paufer's  means  must  have  been  indeed  limited,  for  unless 
prices  had  greatly  risen  in  the  previous  thirty  years,  a  good  dinner 
and  wine  could  have  been  provided  at  a  most  moderate  charge,  to 

1  James  Ray's  History  of  the  Rebellion  of  1 745,  lins  copied  it  from  a  manuscript  in  his  possession 

P-  3"-  which  was  written  at  least   as  early  as  the  year 

"  Wesley's  Journal,  iii.  182.  1837.       To   him   also    I   am    indebted   for   the 

3  This  account  I  owe  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  sketch  of  the  old  piazzas. 
Lnchlan  Mackintosh,  of  Old  Lodge,  Elgin,  who 


UJ 

f- 
c 

PL. 


AN    ELGIN    FUNERAL-    1SILL.  jy 

judge  by   the   following  entries  in   an   Elgin  "funeral   bill,"  dated 
Sept  26,  1742  :  — 

"One  dozen  strong  old  claret  (bottles  being  returned)         .  14.1-.  o,L 

4  Ib.  12  oz.  of  sugar  ........  3^-.  ^d. 

five  dozen  eggs  ........          $d. 

six  hens     .         .  ....'...  2$.  oJ." l 

One  pound  of  sugar,  it  will  be  noticed,  cost  as  much  as  two 
hens,  and  a  little  more  than  eight  dozen  eggs.  With  sugar  at  such 
a  price  it  must  have  given  a  shock  to  a  careful  Scotch  housewife  to 


see  well-sweetened  lemonade  flung  out  of  the  window  merely  be- 
cause a  waiter  had  used  his  dirty  fingers  to  drop  in  the  lumps. 

To  Johnson  Elgin  seemed  "  a  place  of  little  trade  and  thinly 
inhabited."  Yet  Defoe,  writing  only  fifty  years  earlier,  had  said  : 
"  As  the  country  is  rich  and  pleasant,  so  here  are  a  great  many 
rich  inhabitants,  and  in  the  town  of  Elgin  in  particular,  for  the 
gentlemen,  as  if  this  was  the  Edinburgh  or  the  Court  for  this  part 
of  the  island,  leave  their  Highland  habitations  in  the  winter,  and 
come  and  live  here  for  the  diversion  of  the  place  and  plenty  of 
provisions." ' 

1  Dimbar's  Social  Life    in   Former   Days,    \.  ''  Defoe's    Tunr  t/iron^/i    Great  Britain :  Ac- 

276.  count  of  Scotland,  iu.  193. 


32  THE    P1A//.AS    IN    KI.dlN. 

Much   of  its  ancient  prosperity   has   returned  to   it.      If  it  cannot 
boast  of  being  a  court  for  the  north,  it  is  at   all  events  a  pleasant 
little  market-town  that  shows  no  sign  of  decay.     The  covered  ways 
which  in   many  places  ran  on   each  side  of  the  street  have  disap- 
peared.     "  Probably,"  writes  Boswell,  "  it  had  piazzas  all  along  the 
town,  as    I    have    seen    at    Bologna.       I   approved    much    of  such 
structures    in    a    town,    on    account   of    their   conveniency    in   wet 
weather.      Dr.  Johnson   disapproved   of  them,   'because,'    said  he, 
'  it   makes  the  under  story  of  a  house   very   dark,   which   greatly 
overbalances  the  conveniency,  when  it  is  considered  how  small  a 
part  of  the  year  it  rains  ;  how  few  arc  usually  in  the  street  at  such 
times  ;  that  many  who  are  might  as  well  be  at  home  ;  and  the  little 
that  people  suffer,  supposing  them  to  be  as  much  wet  as  they  com- 
monly are  in  walking  a  street."     "  They  were  a  grand  place  for 
the  boys  to   play  at  marbles,"  said  an  old    man    to   me,  who  well 
remembered  the    past   glories   of    Elgin   and   the  delights    of  his 
youth,      liven  at  the  time  of  our  travellers'    visit,  they   were   fre- 
quently broken  by  houses  built  in  the  modern  fashion.      In  many 
cases   they   have  not    been    destroyed,    but   converted    into   small 
shops.      "  There  are,"    writes    a   local   antiquary,   "  some  fine   old 
piazzas  in  the  High  Street  which  have  been  whitewashed  over  and 
hidden."      He  suggests  that  some  of  these  might  be   restored   to 
the  light  of  day.1     It  would  be  a  worthy  deed  for  the  citizens,  even 
in  one  spot,  to  bring  back  the  former  appearance  of  their  ancient 
town. 

The  noble  ruins  of  the  great  cathedral  Johnson  examined  with 
a  most  patient  attention,  though  the  rain  was  falling  fast.  "  They 
afforded  him  another  proof  of  the  waste  of  reformation."  His  in- 
dignation was  excited  even  more  than  by  the  ruins  at  St.  Andrew's; 
for  "  the  cathedral  was  not  destroyed  by  the  tumultuous  violence  of 
Knox,  but  suffered  to  dilapidate  by  deliberate  robbery  and  frigid 
indifference."  By  an  order  of  Council  the  lead  had  been  stripped 
off  the  roof  and  shipped  to  be  sold  in  Holland.  "  I  hope,"  adds 
Johnson,  "every  reader  will  rejoice  that  this  cargo  of  sacrilege  was 
lost  at  sea."  On  this  passage  Horace  Walpole  remarks  in  a  "letter 
to  Lord  Hailes  : — •"  I  confess  I  have  not  quite  so  heinous  an  idea 
of  sacrilege  as  Dr.  Johnson.  Of  all  kinds  of  robbery  that  appears 
to  me  the  lightest  species  which  injures  nobody.  Dr.  Johnson  is 
so  pious,  that  in  his  journey  to  your  country  he  flatters  himself  that 

1   The  Elgin  Cottrant  and  Courier,  Aug.   23,  1889. 


CATHEDRALS    IN    RUINS. 


all  his  readers  will  join  him  in  enjoying  the  destruction  of  two 
Dutch  crews,  who  were  swallowed  up  by  the  ocean  after  they  had 
robbed  a  church.  I  doubt  that  uncharitable  anathema  is  more  in 
the  spirit  of  the  Old  Testament  than  of  the  New."  l  While  John- 
son censured  the  frigid  indifference  of  the  Scotch,  he  did  not  forget 
the  ruin  that  was  being  slowly  worked  in  England  by  the  avarice 
and  neglect  of  deans  and  canons.  "  Let  us  not,"  he  wrote,  "  make 

o 


ELGIN   CATHEDRAL. 


too  much  haste  to  despise  our  neighbours.  Our  own  cathedrals 
are  mouldering  by  unregarded  dilapidation.  It  seems  to  be  part 
of  the  despicable  philosophy  of  the  time  to  despise  monuments  of 
sacred  magnificence,  and  we  are  in  danger  of  doing  that  delibe- 
rately which  the  Scots  did  not  do  but  in  the  unsettled  state  of  an 
imperfect  constitution."  He  had  learnt,  there  seems  good  reason  to 
believe,  that  the  chapter  of  the  cathedral  of  his  own  town  of  Lich- 
field  intended  to  strip  the  lead  off  its  roof  and  cover  it  instead  with 

1  Walpole's  Letters,   vii.  484.  .It  was  only  one  ship  that  was  lost,  though  in   it   the  lead  of 
two  cathedrals  was  conveyed. 


'.54 


THE    ROYAL    I5URGH    OF    NAIRN. 


slate.  As  he  had  first  printed  his  narrative  lie  had  much  mure 
closely  pointed  the  attack.  It  had  run  as  follows  :  "  There  is  now, 
as  I  have  heard,  a  body  of  men  not  less  decent  or  virtuous  than 
the  Scottish  council,  longing  to  melt  the  lead  of  an  English  cathe- 
dral. What  they  shall  melt,  it  were  just  that  they  should  swallow." 
Helore  publication  he  had  the:  leaf  cancelled,  from  the  tender  recol- 
lection that  the  dean  had  done  him  a 
kindness  about  forty  years  before.  "  He 
is  now  very  old,  and  I  am  not  young. 
Reproach  can  do  him  no  good,  and  in 
myself  I  know  not  whether  it  is  zeal 
or  wantonness." 

As  I  turned  away  from  the  ruins 
with  my  thoughts  full  of  the  past — of 
the  ancient  glory  of  the  cathedral,  of 
the  strange  sights  which  had  been 
seen  from  its  tower  when  the  Young 
Pretender's  Highlanders  hurried  by, 
closely  followed  by  the  English  army, 
of  old  Johnson  wandering  about  in  the 
heavy  rain — I  was  suddenly  reminded 
of  the  vastness  of  "  the  abysm  of  time" 
by  which  they  are  separated  from  us, 
by  reading  in  an  advertisement  pla- 
carded on  the  walls,  that  for  /,  3  i6s.  $d. 
could  be  had  a  ticket  from  Elgin  to 
Paris  and  back. 


FORES. 


NAIRN  AND  CAWDOR  (AUGUST  27-28). 

Leaving  Elgin  that  same  afternoon,  our  travellers  drove  on  to 
Fores,  where  they  passed  the  night.  Next  morning,  continuing 
their  journey  early,  they  breakfasted  at  Nairn.  "  Though  a  county 
town  and  a  royal  burgh,  it  is,"  writes  Boswell,  "  a  miserable  place." 
Johnson  also  describes  it  as  being  "  in  a  state  of  miserable  decay." 
Nevertheless,  "the  chief  annual  magistrate,"  he  says,  "is  styled 
Lord  Provost."  If  it  sank  as  a  royal  burgh,  it  has  raised  its  head 

1  Boswell's  /o.'mson,  vi.  xxxiii. 


CAWDOR    MANSE.  135 

again  as  a  popular  bathing-place.  In  this  respect  it  has  not  its 
rival,  I  was  told,  in  the  north  of  Scotland.  Here  Johnson  "fixed 
the  verge  of  the  Highlands;  for  here  he  first  saw  peat  fires,  and 
first  heard  the  Erse  language."  Over  the  room  in  the  inn  where 
he  and  Hoswell  sat  "a  girl  was  spinning  wool  with  a  great  wheel, 
and  singing  an  Erse  song."  It  was  thirty  years  later  that  Words- 
worth in  like  manner  heard  "The  Solitary  Reaper"  : 

"Yon  solitary  Highland  lass 
Reaping  and  singing  by  herself." 

Even  so  far  back  as  the  reign  of  James  VI.  both  languages  were 
spoken  in  Nairn.  "  It  was  one  of  that  king's  witticisms  to  boast 
that  in  Scotland  he  had  a  town  '  sae  lang  that  the  folk  at  the  tae 
end  couldna  understand  the  tongue  spoken  at  the  tother.'  ' 
Gaelic  is  no  longer  heard  in  its  streets.  The  verge  of  the  High- 
lands must  now  be  fixed  farther  to  the  west.  Nine  years  before 
Johnson's  visit  the  little  town  had  been  stirred  up  by  Wesley.  On 
Monday,  June  n,  1764,  he  recorded  in  his  journal:  "While  we 
were  dining  at  Nairn,  the  innkeeper  said,  'Sir,  the  gentlemen  of 
the  town  have  read  the  little  book  you  gave  me  on  Saturday,  and 
would  be  glad  if  you  would  please  give  them  a  sermon.'  Upon  my 
consenting,  the  bell  was  immediately  rung,  and  the  congregation 
was  quickly  in  the  kirk." 

From  Nairn  our  travellers  turned  a  few  miles  out  of  their 
course  to  visit  the  Rev.  Kenneth  Macaulay  in  his  manse  at 
Cawdor.  To  Johnson  he  was  known  by  his  History  of  St.  Kilda 
— "  a  very  pretty  piece  of  topography  "  as  he  called  it  to  the 
author,  "  who  did  not  seem  much  to  mind  the  compliment."  To 
us  he  is  interesting  as  the  great-uncle  of  Lord  Macaulay.  "  From 
his  conversation,"  says  Boswell,  "  Dr.  Johnson  was  convinced  that 
he  had  not  written  the  book  which  goes  under  his  name.  '  There 
is  a  combination  in  it'  (he  said)  'of  which  Macaulay  is  not 
capable.'  '  "  To  those  who  happen  to  have  read  the  work," 
writes  Sir  George  Trevelyan,  "Johnson's  decision  will  give  a  very 
poor  notion  of  my  ancestor's  abilities."  4  Let  him  take  comfort.  The 
present  minister  of  Cawdor,  to  whose  civility  I  am  indebted,  told 

1  The  language  of  the  Highlanders  is  generally  pherson,    in   the   title-page  of  Ossiari,   calls  it 

called  Erse  by  the  Knglish  writers  of  this  period  ;  dalic. 

sometimes  Irish  and  Celtic.      M'Nicol  objected  2   Murray's  Handbook  far  Scotland,  ed.  1867, 

to  the  term  Krse.    "  The  Caledonians,"  he  says,  p.  308. 

"always  called  their  native   language  Gaelic."  3  Wesley'sy0«>-««/,  iii.  182. 

Remarks  on  Johnson's  fourney,  p.  432.     Mac-  *  Life  of  Lord  Macaulay,  ed.  1877,  i.  6. 


TALK    IN    CAWIJOR    MANSE. 


me  that  in  the  Kirk  Session  Records  is  a  minute  by  Macaulay 
"  most  beautifully  expressed."  I  had  hoped  to  sit  in  the  very 
parlour  where  Johnson  had  reproached  him  with  being  "a  bigot 
to  laxness,"  and  where  he  had  given  his  little  son  a  Sallust,  pro- 
mising at  the  same  time  to  get  him  a  servitorship  at  Oxford  when 
he  was  ready  for  the  University.  But  hopes  that  are  based  on 
the  permanence  of  buildings  are  often  disappointed.  Of  the 
old  manse  nothing  remains.  The  minister,  who  rejoiced  in  having 
a  more  comfortable  home  than  his  predecessors,  refused  to  share  in 
my  sentimental  regrets.  The  situation  seemed  a  pleasant  one,  as 
I  saw  it  on  a  fine  evening  in  July,  with  the  sun  setting  behind  the 

hills  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Moray  Firth.  The 
haymakers  were  busy  at 
their  work  close  to  the 
house,  in  a  field  which 
is  bounded  on  one  side 
by  a  deep  hollow,  with 
a  little  brook  flowing  at 
the  bottom,  and  in  front 
by  a  row  of  old  ash 
trees. 

In  the  company  of 
Macaulay  Boswell  "  had 
dreaded  that  a  whole 
evening  would  be  heavy. 
I  Iowever,"headds,"Mr. 

Grant,  an  intelligent  and  well-bred  minister  in  the  neighbourhood, 
was  there,  and  assisted  us  by  his  conversation."  His  grandson  is 
Colonel  Grant,  who  shares  with  Captain  Speke  the  glory  of  having 
discovered  the  sources  of  the  Nile.  It  was  indeed  an  unusual 
gathering  that  August  evening  in  the  parlour  of  the  quiet  manse- 
Johnson,  the  first  of  talkers,  Boswell,  the  first  of  biographers,  the 
great-uncle  of  our  famous  historian,  and  the  grandfather  of  our 
famous  discoverer.  My  hopes  rose  high  when  I  was  told  that  a 
diary  which  Mr.  Grant  kept  was  still  in  existence.  Of  this  even- 
ing's talk  some  record  surely  would  have  been  made.  With 
sorrow  I  learnt  from  his  grandson  that  "  accounts  of  expenses, 
sermons  preached,  peat-cutting,  stipends,  washing  twice  a  year, 
births,  &c.,  are  the  principal  things  which  are  mentioned."  This 


CAWDOR    CHURCH. 


137 


washing  twice  a  year  must  not  be  taken  as  a  proof  that  this  divine 
"  had   no  passion   for  clean  linen."      A  Scotch  friend  of  mine  re- 
members a  man  who  owned  three  farms  in   the   neighbourhood  of 
Campbeltown.       In    his    house    they   only    washed    twice  a   year, 
though  both  he  and  his  three  sons  who  lived  with  him  changed 
their  shirts  every  second  day.      A  time  was  chosen  when  there  was 
a  slackness   in  the  ordinary  work,  and    then  the   female   servants 
were  gathered   from   the   three  farms  for  a  week's  hard  washing. 
This  same  custom  exists,   I 
believe,  to  the  present  day  in 
Norway.   In  the  churchyard  I 
found  Mr.  Grant's  tombstone. 
He  lived  till  1828— fifty  five 
years  after  he  had  met  John- 
son.    He  used  to  tell  a  story 
about      the     doctor     which 
happily  has  been  preserved. 
He  had  supped  with  him,  as 
we  learn  from  Boswell,  at  the 
inn  at  Inverness.     Johnson, 
who  was  in  high  spirits,  gave 
an  account  of  the  kangaroo, 
which    had  lately  been    dis- 
covered in  New  South  Wales, 
"  and  volunteered  an  imita- 
tion of  the  animal.    The  com- 
pany stared  ;   Mr.  Grant  said 
nothing  could  be  more  ludi- 
crous than  the  appearance  of 
a  tall,   heavy,  grave-looking 
manlike  Dr.  Johnson  standing  up  to  mimic  the  shape  and  motions  of  a 
kangaroo.    He  stood  erect,  put  out  his  hands  like  feelers,  and  gather- 
ing up  the  tails  of  his  huge  brown  coat  so  as  to  resemble  the  pouch 
of  the  animal,  made  two  or  three  vigorous  bounds  across  the  room."  ' 
Near   Mr.    Grant  lies    his    friend    and   predecessor    Kenneth 
Macaulay,  with  an   inscription  which  tells  that  he  was  "  notus  in 
fratres  animi  paterni."     This  animus  palcrnns  descended  in  full 
measure  to  Lord  Macaulay.     On   the  porch  of  the  church  is  still 
fastened  by  an  iron  chain  the  old  penance-ring  which  Pennant  saw 

'   Iloswell's  _/««/•««/,  ed.  by  Carruthers,  p.  96. 
T 


I'ENANCK-RINC,    CAWDOR   CHURCH. 


TVS  CAWDOR    CASTLE. 

one  hundred  and  twenty  years  ago.  "  Observed,"  he  writes,  "  on 
a  pillar  of  the  door  of  Calder  church  njoiig,  i.e.,  an  iron  yoke  or  ring, 
fastened  to  a  chain  ;  which  was  in  former  times  put  round  the  necks 
of  delinquents  against  the  rules  of  the  Church,  who  were  left  there 
exposed  to  shame  during  the  time  of  divine  service,  and  was  also 


DKAWKKIIlGK  :    CAWDOk    CASTLK. 


used  as  a  punishment  for  defamation,  small  thefts,  &c.,  but  these 
penalties  are  now  happily  abolished."  1  From  such  penance  as  this 
there  was  perhaps  an  escape  for  those  who  were  well-to-do.  From 
Hndibras  we  learn  that  the  Presbyterian  saints  could  "  sentence  to 
stools  or  poundage  of  repentance,"  which  passage  is  explained  by  the 
commentator  as  "  doing  penance  in  the  Scotch  way,  upon  the  stool 
of  repentance,  or  commuting  the  penance  for  a  sum  of  money."5 

1   Pennant's  Tour  in  Scotland,  i.  155.  -  Hudibras,  iii.  I,  1477. 


CAWDOR    CASTLE. 


"  By  the  direction  of  Mr.  Macaulay,"  writes  Johnson,  "  we  visited 
Cawdor  Castle,  from  which  Macbeth  drew  his  second  title."  That 
they  should  have  needed  a  direction  to  visit  so  beautiful  a  spot 
seems  strange,  for  they  must  have  passed  close  by  it  on  their  way 
to  the  manse.  As  I  first  caught  sight  of  it  by  the  light  of  a  summer 
evening,  I  thought  that  I  had  rarely  seen  a  fairer  spot.  This  castle 
hath  indeed  a  pleasant  seat,  I  said.  All  the  barrenness  of  the 
eastern  coast  I  had  left  behind  me,  and  had  found  in  its  stead  a 
luxuriance  of  growth  that  would  have  graced  the  oldest  mansion  in 
England.  Everything  seemed  beautiful,  and  everything  harmonious 
— the  ancient  castle, 
with  its  high-pitched 
roof  and  its  lofty 
tower ;  the  swift-flow- 
ing river,  with  its 
bridge  of  a  single  arch ; 
the  curve  in  the  road 
where  it  crosses  it  ; 
the  avenue  of  lofty 
trees,  the  lawns  en- 
closed by  limes,  the 
shrubberies,  and  the 
range  of  mountains 
in  the  distance  still 
showing  the  light  of  the  sun  which  had  set  for  us.  The  water 
murmured  pleasantly,  and  a  gentle  breeze  rustled  the  leaves.  I 
found  a  little  inn  close  by  the  park  gate,  where  homely  fare 
and  decent  lodging  are  provided.  A  man  of  a  quiet  meditative 
mind  might  pass  a  few  days  there  pleasantly  enough  if  he  sought 
shelter  in  the  woods  on  the  afternoons  when  the  castle  is  thrown 
open  to  visitors.  Next  morning  I  watched  the  school-children, 
bare-footed,  but  clean  and  tidy,  carrying  on  their  arms  their  slates 
covered  with  sums  in  neat  figures,  trooping  merrily  by,  and  winding 
over  the  bridge  on  their  way  to  school.  By  the  kindness  of  the 
Earl  of  Cawdor  I  was  allowed  to  go  over  the  castle  from  turret 
almost  to  foundation-stone  at  a  time  when  it  was  not  generally  open. 

"The  old  tower,"  says  Boswell,  "  must  be  of  great  antiquity.  There  is  a  draw- 
bridge— what  has  been  a  moat — and  an  ancient  court.  There  is  a  hawthorn-tree, 
which  rises  like  a  wooden  pillar  through  the  rooms  of  the  castle ;  for,  by  a  strange 
conceit,  the  walls  have  been  built  round  it.  The  thickness  of  the  walls,  the  small 


CAWDOR    CASTLE. 


I  4° 


CAWDOR   CASTLE. 


slanting  windows,  and  a  great  iron  door  at  the  entrance  on  the  second  story  as  you 
ascend  the  stairs,  all  indicate  the  rude  times  in  which  this  castle  was  erected.  There 
were  here  some  large  venerable  trees." 

It  is  surprising  that  he  should  have  thought  that  there  could  ever 
have  been  a  moat  on  a  rock  high  above  the  river.  Johnson  never- 
theless also  mentions  it.  What  they  mistook  for  a  moat  is  the 


excavation  made  in  quarrying  the  stone  for  the  castle.  In  clearing 
it  out  some  while  ago,  the  workmen  came  to  a  place  where  the 
masons  had  left  some  stones  half  dressed.  Mr.  Irving,  who  visited 
Cawdor,  has  had  the  fine  entrance  copied,  I  am  told,  in  his  scenery 
for  Macbeth,  adding,  however,  a  portcullis,  of  which  no  traces  re- 
main. I  was  shown  in  a  kind  of  vault  the  trunk  of  the  old  haw- 
thorn which  Boswell  mentions.  There  is  a  tradition  that  "  a  wise 


CAWDOR   CASTLE.  141 

man  counselled  a  certain  thane  to  load  an  ass  with  a  chest  full  of 
gold,  and  to  build  his  castle  with  the  money  at  the  third  hawthorn- 
tree  at  which  the  animal  should  stop."  The  ass  stopped  where 
Cawdor  Castle  is  built,  and  the  tree  was  enclosed.  The  thane's 
only  child,  a  little  girl,  was  carried  off  by  Campbell  of  Inverliver, 
on  Loch  Awe.  In  his  flight  he  was  overtaken  by  the  Cawdors. 
Being  hard  pressed,  "he  cried  out  in  Gaelic,  '  It  is  a  far  cry  to 
Loch  Awe,  and  a  distant  help  to  the  Campbells,'  a  saying  which 


TAPESTRY   CHAM  HER. 


became  proverbial  in  the  north  to  express  imminent  clanger  and 
distant  relief."1  He  won  the  day,  however,  and  the  child  when 
she  grew1  up  married  a  son  of  the  Earl  of  Argyle.  From  them  is 
descended  that  "  prosperous  gentleman,"  the  present  Thane  or 
Earl  of  Cawdor. 

I  passed  through  the  great  iron  door  which  Boswell  mentions, 
and  other  strong  doors  too,  and  climbed  up  the  staircase  which  is 
built  in  the  thickness  of  the  wall.  I  was  shown  the  place  in  the 
roof  where  Lord  Lovat,  when  fleeing  from  justice  early  in  his  bad 
career,  had  lain  in  hiding  for  some  weeks.  I  saw,  moreover,  more 

1  Boswell's  Hebrides, e<\.  by  R.  Carrutherr,,  p.  85. 


i42  CULLODEN. 

than  one  chamber  living  with  old  tapestry.  In  one  of  them  stands 
the  state  bed  of  Sir  Hugh  Campbell,  who  in  1672  married  Lady 
Henrietta  Stewart.  Their  initials,  with  the  date,  are  carved  on  the 
outside  wall  of  the  court.  At  one  end  of  the  hall  runs  a  gallery 
which  bears  the  name  of  the  Fiddler's  Walk.  There  the  musicians 
used  to  play,  keeping  time  with  their  steps  to  their  tune. 


INVERNESS  (AUGUST  28-30). 

From  Cawdor  Johnson  and  Boswell  drove  to  Fort  George, 
"the  most  regular  fortification  in  the  island,"  according  to  Johnson ; 
"  where,"  he  continues,  "  they  were  entertained  by  Sir  Eyre  Coote, 
the  Governor,  with  such  elegance  of  conversation,  as  left  us  no 
attention  to  the  delicacies  of  his  table."  Wolfe,  who  saw  it  in 
1751,  when  it  was  partly  made,  writes  :  "  I  believe  there  is  still 
work  for  six  or  seven  years  to  do.  When  it  is  finished  one  may 
venture  to  say  (without  saying  much)  that  it  will  be  the  most  con- 
siderable fortress,  and  the  best  situated  in  Great  Britain."  '  In  the 
evening  our  travellers  continued  their  journey  to  Inverness — a 
distance  of  twelve  miles.  The  reviewer  of  Johnson's  narrative  in 
the  Scots  Magazine  expresses  his  wonder  that  as  "  he  must  have 
passed  near  the  Field  of  Cullotlen  he  studiously  avoided  to  men- 
tion that  battle."2  Boswell  is  equally  reticent.  The  explanation 
is  perhaps  merely  due  to  the  dusk  of  evening,  in  which  they  passed 
by  the  spot.  It  is  not  unlikely,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  silence 
was  intentional.  Johnson  shows  a  curious  reticence  in  a  passage 
in  which  he  refers  to  the  Rebellion  of  1745.  In  his  description  of 
Rasay  he  writes:  "  Not  many  years  ago  the  late  laird  led  out  one 
hundred  men  upon  a  military  expedition."  Had  he  visited  Cullo- 
den  or  described  the  campaign,  his  indignation  must  have  flamed 
forth  at  the  cruelties  of  the  butcher  duke.  Boswell,  Lowlander 
though  he  was,  said  "  that  they  would  never  be  forgotten."  With 
Smollett,  in  his  Tears  of  Scotland,  they  might  well  have  ex 
claimed  : — 

"  Yet  when  the  rage  of  battle  ceased, 

The  victor's  soul  was  not  appeased  : 

The  naked  and  forlorn  must  feel 

Devouring  flames  and  murd'ring  steel." 

'-  Wright's  Life  of  Wolfe,  p.  178.  2  Scots  Magazine,  1775,  p.  26. 


3; 

o 


c 
: 
a 


THE    BUTCHER    DUKE.  143 

Johnson  does  indeed  speak  of  "  the  heavy  hand  of  a  vindictive 
conqueror."  '  It  was  about  this  time,  or  only  a  little  later,  that 
Scott  was  learning  "  to  detest  the  name  of  Cumberland  with  more 
than  infant  hatred." '  That  an  Englishman  could  travel  in  safety, 
unarmed  and  unguarded,  through  a  country  which  only  seven  and 
twenty  years  before  had  been  so  mercilessly  treated  seems  not  a 
little  surprising.  For  the  next  day  or  two  he  was  to  follow  a 
course  where  fire  and  sword  had  swept  along.  Wolfe,  whose 
"great  name,"  we  boast,  was  "compatriot  with  our  own,"  who  had 
so  little  of  the  savage  spirit  of  war  that  he  would  rather  have 
written  Gray's  Elegy  than  take  Quebec,  even  he  exulted  that  "  as 
few  prisoners  were  taken  of  the  Highlanders  as  possible.  We  had 
an  opportunity  of  avenging  ourselves.  The  rebels  left  near  1,500 
dead."  Yet  he  did  not  think  that  enough  had  been  done.  The 
carnage-pile  was  not  lofty  enough.  Surveying  the  battle-field  five 
years  later,  he  writes  in  a  letter  to  his  father,  a  general  in  the 
army,  "  I  find  room  for  a  military  criticism.  You  would  not  have 
left  those  ruffians  the  only  possible  means  of  conquest,  nor  suffered 
multitudes  to  go  off  unhurt  with  the  power  to  destroy."  :i  Ruffians 
indeed  they  had  shown  themselves  in  their  raid  into  England,  but 
enough  surely  had  been  done  in  the  way  of  slaughter  to  satisfy 
the  most  exacting  military  critic.  How  merciless  our  soldiers  had 
been  is  proved  by  the  letters  that  were  written  from  the  camp.  A 
despatch  sent  off  from  Inverness  on  April  25,  nine  days  after  the 
battle,  says  that  "  the  misery  and  distress  of  the  fugitive  rebels  was 
inexpressible,  hundreds  being  found  dead  of  their  wounds  and 
through  hunger  at  the  distance  of  twelve,  fourteen,  and  even 
twenty  miles  from  the  field."4  On  June  5  an  officer  wrote  from 
Fort  Augustus  :  "His  Royal  Highness  has  carried  fire  and  sword 
through  their  country,  and  driven  off  their  cattle,  which  we  bring 
to  our  camp  in  great  quantities,  sometimes  2,000  in  a  drove.  The 
people  are  deservedly  in  a  most  deplorable  way,  and  must  perish 
either  by  sword  or  famine,  a  just  reward  for  traitors."5 

On  July  26  another  officer  wrote  from  the  same  fort  to  a  friend 
at  Newcastle  :  "  We  hang  or  shoot  everyone  that  is  known  to  con- 
ceal the  Pretender,  burn  their  houses  and  take  their  cattle,  of 
which  we  have  got  some  8,000  head  within  these  few  days  past,  so 

1  Johnson's  Works,  ix.  86.  4   Gentleman's  Magazine,  1746,  p.  263. 

'  Lockharl's  Life  of  Scott,  \.  24.  3  Ib,,  p.  324. 

3  Wright's  Life  of  Wolfe,  1864,  pp.  84-5,  179. 


i44  THK    HIGHLANDS    LAID    WASTE. 

that  if  .some  of  your  Northumberland  graziers  were  here  they 
might  make  their  fortunes."  '  The  author  of  a  J'/ai/i  Narrative  of 
the  Rebellion,  tells  with  exultation  how  "  they  marched  to  Loch 
Yell,  the  stately  scat  of  old  Esquire  Cameron,"  the  Lochiel  of 
Campbell's  spirited  lines.  "  11  is  fine  chairs,  tables,  and  all  his 
cabinet  goods  were  set  on  fire  and  burnt  with  his  house.  His  fine 
fruit  garden,  above  a  mile  long,  was  pulled  to  pieces  and  laid 
waste.  A  beautiful  summer-house  that  stood  in  the  pleasure 
garden  was  also  set  on  fire.  From  hence  the  party  marched  along 
the  sea-coast  through  Moidart,  burning  of  houses,  driving  away  the 
cattle,  and  shooting  those  vagrants  who  were  found  about  the 
mountains..  For  fifty  miles  round  there  was  no  man  or  beast  to 
be  seen."  ;  Andrew  Henderson,  in  his  History  of  the  Rebellion,  after 
admitting  that  in  the  rout  several  of  the  wounded  were  stabbed,  and 
some  who  were  lurking  in  houses  were  taken  out  and  shot,  urges 
by  way  of  excuse  that  "  the  rebels  had  enraged  the  troops  ;  their 
habit  was  strange,  their  language  still  stranger,  and  their  way  of 
fighting  was  shocking  to  the  utmost  degree."'  Besides  the  mas- 
sacre after  the  battle  and  the  executions  by  courts-martial,  there 
were  the  hangings,  drawings  and  quarterings,  and  beheadings 
by  judge  and  jury.  Seventy-six  had  been  sent  to  the  scaffold 
by  September,  1747,'  and  above  one  thousand  were  transported.5 
Even  George  II.  "said  that  he  believed  William  had  been  rough 
with  them."  When  it  was  proposed  to  confer  on  the  duke  the 
freedom  of  the  City  of  London,  an  alderman  was  heard  to  say  that 
it  ought  to  be  the  freedom  of  the  Butchers'  Company.  So  late  as 
the  summer  of  1753  seven  rebels  were  seized  in  a  hut  on  the  side 
of  Loch  Hourn,  at  no  great  distance  from  the  way  along  which 
Johnson  was  to  pass  only  twenty  years  later.7  Nevertheless  he 
everywhere  travelled  in  safety.  Among  the  chieftains,  no  doubt, 
"  his  tenderness  for  the  unfortunate  House  of  Stuart"  was  known, 
but  to  the  common  people  he  would  only  be  an  Englishman — a 
man  of  the  race  that  had  slaughtered  their  fathers  and  wasted  their 
country.  That  both  he  and  Boswell  were  not  free  from  uneasiness 
they  avowed  when  at  Auchnasheal  they  were  surrounded  by  the 
wild  McCraas.  In  the  memory  of  men  not  much  past  the  middle 

1   Gentleman's  Magazine,  1746,  \>,  429.  Smollett  the  number  executed  was  eighty-one- 

*  Michael   Huglies's    Plain  Narrative  of  /lie  History  of  England,  K&.  1800,  iii.  188. 

Ktbellion,  p.  56.  5   Gentleman's  Magazine,  1 747,  p.  246. 

3  HeaA&c$Qb'&ffistoryoftheKe6ellion,\).  117.  "  Marchmont  Papers,  i.  196. 

4  Scots  Magazine,  1747,  p.  649.    According  to  7    Gentleman's  Magazine,  1753,  P-  39' • 


INVERNESS.  ,4S 

age,  tales  of  the  cruel  duke:  used  to  he  told  in  the  winter  evenings 
in  the  glens  of  these  Western  Highlands.  They  have  at  last  died 
away,  and  "infant  hatred"  is  no  longer  nourished.1 

Our  travellers,  whatever  may  have  been  their  motive,  leaving 
the  Field  of  Culloden  un visited  and  unnoticed,  arrived  at  Inver- 
ness, the  capital  of  the  Highlands.  They  put  up  at  Mackenzie's 
Inn.  Of  their  accommodation  they  say  nothing;  but  it  can 
scarcely  have  been  good,  if  we  may  trust  an  English  traveller  who 
two  years  earlier  had  found,  he  said,  the  Horns  Inn,  kept  by 
Mrs.  Mackenzie,  dirty  and  ill-managed.13  Perhaps  they  felt  as 
Wolfe  did  when  he  was  stationed  in  the  town  with  his  reiriment 

o 

"  It  would  be  unmanly,"  he  wrote,  "and  very  unbecoming  a  soldier 
to  complain  of  little  evils,  such  as  bad  food,  bad  lodging,  bad  fire. 
.  .  .  With  these  reflections  I  reconcile  myself  to  Inverness,  and  to 
other  melancholy  spots  that  we  are  thrown  upon."  He  adds  that 
the  post  goes  but  once  a  week,  and  that  as  there  are  rapid  rivers 
on  the  road  that  have  neither  bridge  nor  boat,  it  is  often  delayed 
by  the  floods/'  Wesley  describes  Inverness  as  the  largest  town  he 
had  seen  in  Scotland  after  Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  and  Aberdeen. 
"  It  stands  in  a  pleasant  and  fruitful  country,  and  has  all  things 
needful  for  life  and  godliness.  The  people  in  general  speak  re- 
markably good  English,  and  are  of  a  friendly,  courteous  beha- 
viour." '  Their  good  English  they  were  said  to  derive  from  the 
garrison  which  Cromwell  had  settled  among  them.  It  had  been 
noticed  by  Defoe.  "  They  speak,"  he  said,  "  perfect  English,  even 
much  better  than  in  the  most  southerly  provinces  of  Scotland  ;  nay, 
some  will  say  that  they  speak  it  as  well  as  at  London,  though  I  do 
not  grant  that  neither."  b  Their  behaviour  had  greatly  improved 
in  the  thirteen  years  which  had  elapsed  between  Wolfe's  second 
and  Wesley's  first  visit,  unless  the  soldier  had  viewed  them  with 
the  stern  eye  of  the  conqueror,  or  they  had  displayed  the  sullen- 
ness  of  the  conquered.  "  A  little  while,"  he  wrote,  "  serves  to 
discover  the  villainous  nature  of  the  inhabitants  and  brutality  of 
the  people  in  the  neighbourhood."  "  Yet  the  brutality  was  quite 
as  much  on  the  side  of  the  army,  for  a  year  later,  five  full  years 
after  the  battle,  we  find  the  people  still  treated  with  harshness  and 
insolence.  The  magistrates  had  invited  Lord  Bury,  the  general  in 

'  My  informant   is  the   late  Rev.   Alexninlt-T  '  Wesley's  Journal,  Hi.  iSi. 

Matheson,  minister  of  Glenshiel.  '  I  lefoe's  Account  of  Scotland,  \i.  196. 

3  Gentleman's  Magazine,  1771,  p.  544.  "  Wright's  Life  of  IVolfe,  \>.  177. 
3  Wright's  Life  of  Wolfe,  pp.  182,  195. 

U 


i46  INVERNESS. 

command,  to  an  entertainment  on  the  Duke  of  Cumberland's 
birthday.  "  He  said  he  did  not  doubt  but  it  would  be  more 
agreeable  to  the  duke  if  they  postponed  it  to  the  day  following, 
the  anniversary  of  Culloden.  They  stared,  said  they  could  not  pro- 
mise on  their  own  authority,  but  would  go  and  consult  their  body. 
They  returned,  told  him  it  was  unprecedented  and  could  not  be 
complied  with.  Lord  Bury  replied  he  was  sorry  they  had  not 
given  a  negative  at  once,  for  he  had  mentioned  it  to  his  soldiers, 
who  would  not  bear  a  disappointment,  and  was  afraid  it  would  pro- 
voke them  to  some  outrage  upon  the  town.  This  did  ;  they 
celebrated  Culloden."  l 

The  old  town  had  witnessed  a  strange  sight  in  the  first  days 
after  the  battle.  The  soldiers  had  held  a  fair  for  the  sale  of  the 
plunder  which  they  had  made.  "  The  traffic  on  the  Rialto  Bridge 
was  nothing  in  comparison  to  the  business  done  by  our  military 
merchants  ;  here  being  great  sortments  of  all  manner  of  plaids, 
broad-swords,  dirks  and  pistols,  and  plaid-waistcoats,  officers'  laced 
waistcoats,  hats,  bonnets,  blankets,  and  oatmeal  bags.":  The 
severity  that  was  so  long  exercised  by  government  at  length  sank 
into  neglect.  Only  five  years  before  the  arrival  of  our  travellers 
all  the  prisoners,  just  before  the  opening  of  the  Assize,  made  their 
escape  from  the  town  jail ;  "  so  the  Lord  Pitfour,"  a  writer  to 
the  Signet  wrote,  "  will  have  the  trouble  only  of  fugitation  and 
reprimanding  the  magistrates."  3  How  miserable  the  jail  was  is 
shown  in  a  memorial  from  the  Town  Council,  dated  March  17, 
1 786,  stating  that  "  it  consists  only  of  two  small  cells  for  criminals, 
and  one  miserable  room  for  civil  debtors.  Their  situation  is  truly 
deplorable,  as  there  are  at  present  and  generally  about  thirty 
persons  confined  in  these  holes,  none  of  which  is  above  thirteen 
feet  square."'  While  the  poor  prisoners  were  so  cruelly  treated, 
the  lawyers  had  a  merry  time  of  it  every  time  that  so  hospitable 
a  judge  as  Boswell's  father  came  the  circuit  :— 

"  Lord  Auchinleck  made  a  most  respectable  figure  at  the  head  of  his  circuit 
table.  It  was  his  rule  to  spend  every  shilling  of  his  allowance  for  the  circuit — a 
thing  less  to  be  expected  that  in  everything  else  he  was  supposed  to  be  abundantly 
economical.  He  had  a  plentiful  table.  He  laughed  much  at  the  rule  laid  down 
by  some  of  his  brethren  of  asking  gentlemen  but  once  to  dinner.  'It  is,'  said  he, 
'  treating  them  like  beggars  at  a  burial,  who  get  their  alms  in  rotation.' " 5 

'   Letters  of  Horace  Walpole,  ii.  288.  '  //-.,  p.  89. 

s  M.  Hughes's  Plain  Narrative,  p.  51.  5  Scotland  and  Scotsmen  in   the   Eighteenth 

J  E.  Dunbar's  Social  Life  in  Former  Days,  i.  Century,  i.  164. 
'33- 


THE   ENTRANCE   TO    THE   HIGHLANDS.  147 

We    are  not    surprised   that    Boswell    found    that   "  everybody  at 
Inverness  spoke  of  Lord  Auchinleck  with  uncommon  regard." 

The  English  chapel,  which  Johnson  describes  as  "  meanly  built, 
but  with  a  very  decent  congregation,"  was  pulled  down  many  years 
ago.  On  its  site,  in  the  midst  of  the  same  old  graveyard,  another 
building  has  been  raised  in  what  may  be  perhaps  called  the  church- 
warden style.  Of  Macbeth's  castle — "  what  is  called  the  castle  of 
Macbeth,"  writes  Johnson  with  his  usual  caution — nothing  remains. 
If  we  may  trust  Boswell,  "  it  perfectly  corresponded  with  Shake- 
speare's description."  It  ha"s  been  replaced  by  "a  modern 
building  of  chaste  castellated  design,"  to  borrow  the  language  of 
the  guide-book.  I  was  told,  however,  that  our  travellers  had  been 
misinformed,  and  that  "  the  old  original  Macbeth's  castle"  stood  on 
a  height  a  little  distance  from  the  town.  This  "  pleasant  seat"  has 
been  treated,  I  found,  even  worse  than  its  rival ;  for  a  builder, 
thinking  that  the  air  "  might  nimbly  and  sweetly  recommend  itself" 
to  the  public  as  well  as  to  a  king,  began  the  erection  of  a  crescent. 
Owing  to  a  difficulty  about  a  right  of  way,  the  speculation  hitherto 
has  not  been  so  successful  as  might  have  been  feared. 

At  Inverness  the  Lowland  life  came  to  an  end.  To  the  west 
of  that  town  no  road  had  ever  been  made  till  some  years  after  the 
rising  of  1715.  All  beyond  was  the  work  of  General  Wade  and 
the  other  military  engineers.  "  Here,"  writes  Johnson,  "  the 
appearance  of  life  began  to  alter.  I  had  seen  a  few  women  with 
plaids  at  Aberdeen,  but  at  Inverness  the  Highland  manners  are 
common.  There  is,  I  think,  a  kirk  in  which  only  the  Erse 
language  is  used."  The  plaid,  which  was  not  peculiar  to  the 
Highlands,  had  been  rapidly  going  out  of  fashion.  Ramsay  of 
Ochtertyre  says  that  in  1747,  when  he  first  knew  Edinburgh,  nine- 
tenths  of  the  ladies  still  wore  them.  Five  years  later  "  one  could 
hardly  see  a  lady  in  that  piece  of  dress.  In  the  course  of  seven  or 
eight  years  the  very  servant  girls  were  ashamed  of  being  seen  in 
that  ugly  antiquated  garb."  '  The  Gaelic  language  does  not  seem 
to  have  lost  much  ground  in  Inverness,  for  I  was  told  that  there 
are  five  churches  in  which  it  is  used  every  Sunday  at  one  of  the 
services. 

1  Scotland  and  Scotsmen  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  ii.  88. 


WANT    OF    ROADS 


INYKKNKSS  TO  ANOCII  (AUGUST  30-31). 

At  Inverness  Johnson  bade  farewell  to  post-chaises,  which  had 
brought  him  in  comfort  all  the  way  from  London.  "  This  day," 
writes  Boswell,  "  we  were:  to  begin  our  equitation,  as  I  said  ;  for  I 
would  needs  make  a  word  too.  We  might  have  taken  a  chaise  to 
Fort  Augustus,  but  had  we  not  hired  horses  at  Inverness  we  should 
not  have  found  them  afterwards.  We  had  three  horses  for  Dr. 

Johnson,  myself,  and 
Joseph, and  one  which 
carried  our  portman- 
teaus, and  two  High- 
landers who  walked 
along  with  us."  They 
took  but  little  bag- 


DUNUARUJK,    A 


•RIMED    TORT    NKAK    KOYKRS. 


moderation  "in  climb- 
ing crags  and  treading 
bogs.  How  often," 
continues  Johnson,  "a 
man  that  has  pleased 
himself  at  home  with 
his  own  resolution, 
will  in  the  hour  of 

darkness  and  fatigue  be  content  to  leave  behind  him  everything  but 
himself."  After  leaving  the  Fort  they  were  "  to  enter  upon  a  country 
upon  which  perhaps  no  wheel  had  ever  rolled."  In  the  Commercial 
Map  of  Scotland,  published  by  J.  Knox  in  1 784,  there  is  not  a  single 
road  marked  in  any  one  of  the  Hebrides.  After  long  wanderings,  and 
the  lapse  of  almost  seven  weeks,  "Johnson's  heart  was  cheered  by  the 
sight  of  a  road  marked  with  cart-wheels  as  on  the  mainland,  a  thing 
which  we  had  not  seen  for  a  long  time.  It  gave  us  a  pleasure  similar 
to  that  which  a  traveller  feels  when,  whilst  wandering  on  what  he 
fears  is  a  desert  island,  he  perceives  the  print  of  human  feet."  It 
was  in  pleasant  weather  that  they  began  their  ride.  "  The  day 
though  bright  was  not  hot.  On  the  left  were  high  and  steep  rocks 


THE   SHORES   OF    LOCH    NESS. 


149 


shaded  with  birch  and  covered  with  fern  or  heath.  On  the  right 
the  limpid  waters  of  Loch  Ness  were  beating  their  bank  and  waving 
their  surface  by  a  gentle  agitation."  In  one  part  of  the  way,  adds 
Johnson,  "  we  had  trees  on  both  sides  for  perhaps  half  a  mile.  Such 
a  length  of  shade,  perhaps,  Scotland  cannot  show  in  any  other 
place."  Boswell,  though  he  thought  Fleet  Street  more  delightful 
than  Tempe,  nevertheless  felt  the  cheering  powers  of  this  delightful 
day.  "  The  scene"  he  found  "  as  sequestered  and  agreeably  wild 


•      pftft;  '      '•'     i'^-V 

*"o£>  ":''•'•'•  I     ••"'i''    ^ 


LOCH    NESS. 


as  could  be  desired."  Pennant,  who  had  been  there  four  years 
earlier,  describes  the  scenery  as  "  most  romantic  and  beautiful." 
Wesley  thought  the  neighbourhood  of  Inverness  one  of  the 
pleasantest  countries  he  had  ever  seen.2  In  striking  contrast  with 
the  enjoyment  of  these  four  travellers  are  the  feelings  of  those  who 
a  few  years  before  had  seen  the  spot  when  the  alarms  of  war  were 
still  fresh.  "On  each  side  of  Loch  Ness,"  writes  Ray,  "is  a  ridge 
of  most  terrible  barren  woody  mountains.  You  travel  along  the 
banks  through  a  road  made  by  blowing  up  monstrous  rocks,  which 


1  Pennant's  Tour  in  Scotland,  i.  196. 


2  Wesley's  Journal,  iv.  27$. 


THE   GENERAL'S    HUT. 


in  many  place's  hang  declining  over  passengers  and  higher  than 
houses,  so  that  'tis  frightful  to  pass  by  them."  ./  I'olnulecr  de- 
scribes the  mountains  "  as  high  and  frightful  as  the  Alps  in  Spain  ; 
so  we  had  nothing  pleasant  to  behold  but  the  sky." 

Our  travellers  halted  for  dinner  at  the  General's  Hut,  a  small 
public-house  nearly  eighteen  miles  from  Inverness/1  Here,  says 
Johnson,  Wade  had  lodged  "  while  he  superintended  the  works 
upon  the  road."  I  have  seen  it  stated  in  a  guide-book  that  on  its 
site  is  built  the  Foyer's  Hotel,  but  this  is  a  mistake.  In  the  Map 
of  the  Kings  Roads  made  by  General  Wade,  dated  1 746,  "  the 
General  Hutt"  (sic]  is  marked  just  where  the  road  takes  a  sudden 


MAI'    OK    FOYERS. 


bend  to  the  south,  a  short  distance  after  which  it  passes  the  church 
of  Burlassig.  Dr.  Garnett,  who  travelled  through  the  Highlands 
at  the  end  of  the  century,  says  that  "  the  present  public-house, 
which  is  still  called  the  General's  Hut,  is  very  near  the  place  where 
Wade  had  a  small  house,  which  was  afterwards  used  as  an  inn.  It 
commands  a  delightful  view  up  the  lake."  The  change  of  site  must 
have  been  made,  it  would  seem,  between  his  visit  and  Johnson's. 


'   Ray's  History  of  the  Rebellion,  p.  362. 

*  M.  Hughes's  Plain  Narrative,  p.  53. 
Alps,  I  suppose,  he  uses  as  Milton  does  for  lofty 
mountains  in  general. 

3  In  a  Survey  of  the  Province  of  Moray,  pub- 
lished at  Aberdeen  in  1798,  on  pp.  333-34,  the 
following  table  is  given  of  the  distances  along 


the  road  which  Johnson  was  following : — 
"  From  Inverness  to  the  General's  Hut,  17 
miles  6  furlongs.  From  General's  Hut  to  Fort 
Augustus,  14  miles  2  furlongs.  From  Fort 
Augustus  to  Unach  [?  Anoch],  9  miles.  From 
Unach  to  Rattachan,  25  miles  5  furlongs. 
From  Rattachan  to  Bernera,  9  miles. 


3AKP.10N  T.OW.  KARSTON  SEARLt    ft  RIVINGTON  LTD  PUBLISHERS. LONDON 


FOYERS 


THE    FALLS   OF    FOYERS.  151 

The  old  inn  was  on  the  north-east  or  Inverness  side  of  the  church, 
whereas  the  Foyers  Hotel  is  a  little  distance  beyond  it  to  the  south- 
west. It  is  a  pity  that  the  ambition  of  landlords  has  not  allowed 
the  old  name  to  remain.  It  was  the  only  thing  I  found  wanting  in 
this  comfortable  hotel.  Sir  Walter  Scott  was  surprised  that  "  when 
these  roads  were  made  there  was  no  care  taken  for  inns.  The 
King's  House  and  the  General's  Hut  are  miserable  places,"  he 
adds,  "but  the  project  and  plans  were  purely  military."1  Johnson, 
however,  was  not  dissatisfied  with  his  entertainment.  "  We  found," 
he  says,  "  the  house  not  ill-stocked  with  provisions.  We  had  eggs 
and  bacon,  and  mutton,  with  wine,  rum,  and  whisky.  I  had  water." 
The  little  church  hard  by  Boswell  describes  as  "  the  meanest  parish 
kirk  I  ever  saw.  It  is  a  shame  it  should  be  on  a  high  road."  It 
might  have  been  pleaded,  perhaps,  as  an  alleviation  of  its  disgrace, 
that  the  high  road  had  come  to  it  and  that  it  had  not  come  to  the 
high  road.  His  reproach  seems  to  have  had  some  effect,  for  it  has 
been  removed  to  another  place.  The  ruins,  however,  still  remain. 
A  middle-aged  woman  who  dwells  in  the  neighbourhood  told  me 
that  "there  was  an  old  man  living  when  she  first  came,  who  said 
he  did  not  mind  when  it  was  a  church,  but  his  father  did." 

While  Boswell  mentions  the  mean  kirk,  with  his  indifference  to 
natural  objects  he  passes  over  in  silence  the  celebrated  Falls  of 
Fiers  or  Foyers.  He  does  not  even  mention  the  bridge  over  the 
river,  or  the  rocks  which  on  three  sides  of  it  rise  to  a  great  height. 
Here  Johnson's  imagination  was  deeply  impressed,  for  he  describes 
them  as  "exhibiting  a  kind  of  dreadful  magnificence;  standing  like 
the  barriers  of  nature  placed  to  keep  different  orders  of  being  in 
perpetual  separation."  Dismounting  from  their  horses,  "  we 
clambered,"  he  writes,  "  over  very  rugged  crags,  till  we  came  at 
last  to  a  place  where  we  could  overlook  the  river,  and  saw  a 
channel  torn,  as  it  seems,  through  black  piles  of  stone,  by  which 
the  stream  is  obstructed  and  broken,  till  it  comes  to  a  very  steep 
descent,  of  such  dreadful  depth,  that  we  were  naturally  inclined  to 
turn  aside  our  eyes.  But  we  visited  the  place  at  an  unseasonable 
time,  and  found  it  divested  of  its  dignity  and  terror.  Nature  never 
gives  everything  at  once.  A  long  continuance  of  dry  weather, 
which  made  the  rest  of  the  way  easy  and  delightful,  deprived  us  of 
the  pleasure  expected  from  the  Falls  of  Fiers."  This  same  month 
Mason,  the  poet,  was  complaining  that  the  cascades  at  Lodore  had 

1  Croker's  Boswell,  8vo,  ed.  p.  307. 


152 


FORT    AUGUSTUS. 


been  "  reduced  l)y  the  dry  season  to  a  scanty  rill,  which  took  away 
more  than  half  the  beauties  of  the  scene." 

It  was  dark  when  our  travellers  reached  "  the  wretched  inn"  at 
Fort  Augustus.  Happily  it  was  not  in  it  that  they  were  to  lodge, 
for  the  governor  invited  them  to  sleep  in  his  house.  Of  the  fort, 
the  rebels  had  made  a  bonfire  on  April  15,  1740,  the  day  before 
Culloden,  "  to  celebrate  the  Duke  of  Cumberland's  birthday."  It 
had  since  been  rebuilt  and  greatly  strengthened,  "being  surrounded 
by  two  trenches  filled  with  water,  and  having  draw-bridges,  strong 


INVERMORISTON. 


walls,  and  bastions. ":  Nothing  is  left  of  it.  Where  rough  soldiers 
once  carried  things  with  a  high  hand,  now  smooth  priests  rule.  On 
the  site  of  the  old  fortifications  which  bore  the  second  name  of  the 
butcher  duke  has  been  raised  a  college  and  monastery  dedicated  to 
St.  Benedict.  Johnson  long  remembered  the  rest  which  he  enjoyed 
in  the  governor's  hospitable  home.  Nearly  four  years  later  he  re- 
corded in  his  diary  :  "  I  passed  the  night  in  such  sweet  uninter- 
rupted sleep  as  I  have  not  known  since  I  slept  at  Fort  Augustus." 
The  following  year,  writing  to  Boswell,  he  said,  "  The  best  night 
that  I  have  had  these  twenty  years  was  at  Fort  Augustus."  From 


Walpole's  Letters,  v.  501. 


-  Kay's  History  of  the  Rebellion,  p.  325. 


Ib.,  p.  362. 


or; 


CO 

5 

o 


GLEN  MORI  SON. 


153 


this  spot  to  the  sea-shore  opposite  Skye  they  had  about  forty-four 
miles  of  highland  paths  to  traverse.  This  part  of  their  journey 
they  were  forced  to  divide  very  unequally,  as  Anoch,  the  only 
place  where  they  could  find  entertainment,  was  scarcely  a  third  of 
the  way.  Crossing  the  mountains  by  a  road  which  had  been  made 
"  with  labour  that  might  have  broken  the  perseverance  of  a  Roman 
legion,"  early  in  the  afternoon  they  came  "  through  a  wild  country" 
to  Glenmorison.1  They  did  not,  as  the  guide-book  says,  follow  the 
course  of  the  river  Moriston  from  Invermoriston,  but  joined  it  some 
miles  higher  up,  above  the  fine  scenery  and  the  wild  tumble  of 
water  which  are  shown  in  the  accompanying  sketch.  This  fact  I 
did  not  discover  till  too  late.  Anoch  Johnson  describes  as  "  stand- 
ing in  a  glen  or  valley 
pleasantly  watered  by 
a  winding  river.  It 
consists  of  three  huts, 
one  of  which  is  distin- 
guished by  a  chimney." 
It  was  in  the  house 
thus  distinguished  that 
they  lodged.  When  I 
visited  this  spot  last 
summer,  we  halted  at 
a  farmhouse  hard  by 
to  rest  our  horses  and 

take  some  lunch.  We  sat  on  the  bank  of  a  dried-up  brook, 
beneath  a  row  of  witch-elms.  A  cuckoo  was  Hying  about,  resting 
now  and  then  on  the  garden  wall.  "Its  two-fold  shout"  it 
scarcely  uttered,  thinking,  perhaps,  that  as  it  was  the  month  of 
June,  it  would  be  "  heard,  not  regarded."  The  wind  rustled  in 
the  leaves,  the  river,  blue  beneath  a  blue  sky,  ran  swiftly  by,  now 
under  a  shady  bank,  and  now  round  a  stony  foreland,  till  it  lost 
itself  at  last  from  our  sight  behind  a  bend.  To  the  west  rose  lofty 
mountains;  on  the  other  side  of  the  valley  were  sloping  hills.  We 
lunched  on  frothing  milk,  oat-cakes,  scones,  and  butter  ;  the  sheep 
dogs  playing  around  us,  and  with  wistful  gaze  asking  for  their 
share  of  the  feast.  We  lay  on  the  ground  and  looked  across  the  little 
ravine  at  an  old  hut  that  was  "distinguished  by  a  chimney."  This 


TIIK  RUINS  OF 


10USK    AT    ANOCH. 


1   I   adopt   Boswell's   spell  in: 
Glenmoriston. 


Johnson   calls   it   Glenmollison.      It   is  now  gc-iiL-rally  written 


X 


154  ENGLISH   SOLDIERS. 

we  all  voted,  and  very  likely  with  truth  on  our  side,  was  the 
very  place  where  our  travellers  had  lodged.  Talking  of  "  far-off 
things,"  of  Johnson  and  the  copy  of  Cocker's  Arithmetic  which  he 
gave  to  his  landlord's  "  gentle  and  pleasing  daughter,"  of  her  father's 
library  of  odd  volumes,  and  of  the  old  hut  and  the  old  life,  an  hour 
slipped  quickly  and  pleasantly  by. 

As  our  travellers  "  passed  on  through  the  dreariness  of  solitude" 
on  their  way  hither,  they  had  come  upon  a  party  of  soldiers  work- 
ing on  the  road,  to  whom  they  gave  a  couple  of  shillings  to  spend 
in  drink.  "  With  the  true  military  impatience  of  coin  in  their 
pockets,"  these  men  had  followed  them  to  the  inn,  "having  marched 
at  least  six  miles  to  find  the  first  place  where  liquor  could  be 
bought."  There  they  made  merry  in  the  barn.  "  We  went  and 
paid  them  a  visit,"  writes  Boswell;  "  Dr.  Johnson  saying,  'Come, 

let's  go  and  give  'em  another  shil- 
ling a-piece.'  We  did  so,  and  he 
was  saluted  '  MY  LORD  '  by  all  of 
them."  Johnson  avows  that  one 
cause  of  his  generosity  was  re- 
gard to  his  and  Boswell's  safety. 
"  Having  never  been  before  in  a 
place  so  wild  and  unfrequented,  I 

THATCHED  HOUSE.  was  glad  of  their  arrival,  because 

I   knew  that  we   had  made  them 

friends  ;  and  to  gain  still  more  of  their  good-will,  we  went  to  them 
when  they  were  carousing  in  the  barn,  and  added  something  to  our 
former  gift."  The  money  was  ill-bestowed.  "  The  poor  soldiers 
got  too  much  liquor.  Some  of  them  fought  and  left  blood  upon 
the  spot,  and  cursed  whisky  next  morning."  Perhaps  Johnson  had 
them  in  his  mind  when,  a  few  years  later,  he  said,  "  Why,  sir,  a 
common  soldier  is  usually  a  very  gross  man."  To  the  degradation 
of  one  of  the  English  regiments  which  had  been  stationed  in  the 
Highlands,  testimony  is  borne  by  Wolfe,  who  on  his  return  from 
Scotland  in  1 753,  wrote  :  "  If  I  stay  much  longer  with  the  regiment 
I  shall  be  perfectly  corrupt ;  the  officers  are  loose  and  profligate, 
and  the  soldiers  are  very  devils."  Johnson  soon  found  that  he  had 
no  need  of  a  guard.  His  host  had  indeed  fought  in  the  Highland 
army  at  Culloden,  but  he  was  a  quiet  honest  fellow.  The  account 
which  he  gave  of  the  campaign  moved  Boswell  to  tears.  If  he 

1   Wright's  Life  of  Wolfe,  p.  279. 


THE  GRANTS    OF    GLENMORISON.  155 

told  them  the  following  story  which  I  have  found  in  Henderson's 
History  of  the  Rebellion,  he  would  have  moved  also  Johnson  to 
anger.  A  party  of  the  Grants  of  Glenmorison  had  joined  the 
Pretender's  army  at  Edinburgh.  The  laird,  who  had  remained 
loyal,  came,  after  the  battle  of  Culloden,  "  with  about  five  hundred 
of  his  vassals  to  Inverness,  whence  they  were  sent  into  the  country 
of  the  Macintoshes.  Hereupon  the  Grants  in  the  rebellion  begged 
his  intercession.  He  repaired  to  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  and 
said,  '  Here  are  a  number  of  men  come  in  with  their  arms,  who 
would  have  submitted  to  none  in  Britain  but  to  me.'  'No!' 
answered  the  duke  ;  'I'll  let  them  know  that  they  are  my  father's 
subjects,  and  must  likewise  submit  to  me.'  So  he  gave  orders  to 
embark  them  with  the  other  prisoners,  and  they  were  shipped  off 
to  Tilbury  Fort."  *  Smollett  tells  how  great  numbers  of  the  mise- 
rable captives  who  were  sent  to  London  by  sea,  being  crowded  in 
the  holds  of  the  vessels,  "  perished  in  the  most  deplorable  manner 
for  want  of  necessaries,  air,  and  exercise."1  If  the  Grants  escaped 
this  fate,  very  likely  they  were  transported  to  America. 


ANOCII  TO  GLENELG  (SEPTEMBER   i). 

It  was  a  long  and  heavy  journey  that  this  day  lay  before  our 
travellers,  so  that  they  rose  in  good  time  and  started  about  eight 
o'clock.  Boswell,  who  had  awakened  very  early,  had  been  a  little 
scared  by  the  thought  that  "  their  landlord,  being  about  to  emi- 
grate, might  murder  them  to  get  their  money,  and  lay  it  upon  the 
soldiers  in  the  barn."  "  When  I  got  up,"  he  adds,  "  I  found  Dr. 
Johnson  asleep  in  his  miserable  stye,  as  I  may  call  it,  with  a 
coloured  handkerchief  round  his  head.  With  difficulty  could  I 
awaken  him."  So  miserable  had  their  beds  looked  that  "  we  had 
some  difficulty,"  writes  Johnson,  "  in  persuading  ourselves  to  lie 
down  in  them.  At  last  we  ventured,  and  I  slept  very  soundly  in 
the  vale  of  Glenmorison  amidst  the  rocks  and  mountains."  I  he 
road  which  they  were  to  follow  is  but  little  traversed  at  the  present 
day,  for  tourists  either  keep  to  the  south  by  the  Caledonian  Canal, 
or  to  the  north  by  the  railway  to  Strome  Ferry.  They  thereby 
miss,  to  use  Boswell's  words,  "a  scene  of  as  wild  nature  as  one 

1  Henderson's  Histotyof  the  Rebellion,  p.  122.         2  Smollett's  History  of  EnglanJ,  iii.  183. 


i5(>  THE    HAPPY    VALLEY. 

could  see."  To  this  part  ol  my  tour  I  had  long  looked  forward. 
It  is  many  a  year  since  1  first  formed  the  wish  to  visit  that 
"  narrow  valley  not  very  flowery,  but  sufficiently  verdant,"  where 
Johnson  planned  the  history  of  his  tour. 

"  I  sat  down  on  a  bank  (lie  says)  such  as  a  writer  of  romance  might  have 
delighted  to  feign.  I  had  indeed  no  trees  to  whisper  over  my  head,  but  a  clear 
rivulet  streamed  at  my  feet.  The  day  was  calm,  the  air  was  soft,  and  all  was  rude- 
ness, silence,  and  solitude.  Before  me  and  on  either  side  were  high  hills,  which  by- 
hindering  the  eye  from  ranging,  forced  the  mind  to  find  entertainment  for  itself. 
Whether  I  spent  the  hour  well  I  know  not,  for  here  I  first  conceived  the  thought  of 
this  narration." 

In  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Thrale  he  describes  the  same  scene,  but 
makes  no  mention  of  the  book  which  he  had  in  mind. 

"  I  sat  down  to  take  notes  on  a  green  bank,  with  a  small  stream  running  at  my 
feet,  in  the  midst  of  savage  solitude,  with  mountains  before  me,  and  on  either  hand 
covered  with  heath.  I  looked  around  me,  and  wondered  that  I  was  not  more 
affected,  but  the  mind  is  not  at  all  times  equally  ready  to  be  put  in  motion.  If  my 
mistress  and  master,  and  Queeney '  had  been  there,  we  should  have  produced 
some  reflections  among  us  either  poetical  or  philosophical,  for  though  solitude  be 
the  nurse  of  woe,2  conversation  is  often  the  parent  of  remarks  and  discoveries." 

My  hopes  of  finding  this  classical  rivulet  were  great.  A  kind 
correspondent,  the  Rev.  Alexander  Matheson,  minister  of  Glen 
Shiel,  had  been  told  by  some  old  people  of  the  neighbourhood  that 
they  knew  by  tradition  the  exact  spot.  Though  he  had  nearly 
twenty  miles  to  come,  he  undertook  to  show  me  it.  I  arrived  at 
the  little  inn  at  Glume  earlier  than  he  had  expected,  and  there 
meeting  him  found  to  my  disappointment  that  I  had  passed  the 
spot  some  six  or  seven  miles.  Both  horses  and  travellers  were  too 
weary  to  retrace  their  steps.  The  tradition  of  the  old  people  had 
on  further  investigation  proved  to  be  worthless.  Like  myself  he 
had  been  at  first  misled  by  Boswell's  narrative,  which  places 
this  happy  valley  at  the  western  end  of  Glen  Shiel.  But  on 
looking  at  Johnson's  account,  aided  too  by  his  own  knowledge  of 
the  locality,  he  had  detected  the  error.  The  rivulet  by  which  they 
had  made  their  noonday  halt  must  have  been  in  Glen  Clunie,  near 
the  eastern  end  of  the  loch,  for  Johnson  describes  how  after  their 
rest  "  they  continued  their  journey  along  the  side  of  a  loch  which 
at  last  ended  in  a  river  broad  and  shallow.  Beyond  it  is  a  valley 
called  Glen  Shiel."  For  my  disappointment  there  was  some  con- 

1    He  means  Mr.  and   Mrs.    Thrale  and   their       li'iitiiient.    Pope,  in  Donne's  Satires  Versifad  (iv. 
eldest  daughter.  185),  calls  "  solitude  the  nurse  of  sense." 

*  Johnson  is  quoting  1'arnell's  Hyntn  to  Con- 


YARROW    UN  VISITED. 


solation    to  be   found.      The    long   drought  ot   nearly   two   months 

which   had  preceded  my   tour  had   dried   up  those  rivulets   which 

Johnson  crossed,   running,   as   he  describes  them,    "  with   a   clear, 

shallow  stream  over  a 

hard,  pebbly  bottom." 

The  main   river  had 

still  water  in   it  ;  but 

we  saw  few  indeed  of 

"  the  streams  rushing 

down  the  steep"  which 

fed  it.      In   that  part 

of  the  narrow  valley 

where  he  reposed  we 

should  have  had  only 

a  choice  of  dried-up 

watercourses,  had  we 

tried     to     select     the 


bank  on  which  he  sat. 
For  me  Yarrow  still 
remains  unvisited.  I 
have  still  to  see 

"  Its  silvery  current  flow 
With  uncontrolled  meander- 
ings." 

Passing  through 
Glen  Clunie,  which 
now  boasts  of  a  little 
inn  where  the  traveller 
can  find  clean,  if 
homely  lodgings,  they 
reached  Glen  Shiel. 

It  is  worth  notice  that  though  the  word  Glen  is  in  Johnson's 
Dictionary,  so  unfamiliar  was  it  at  this  time  to  English  ears,  that 
using  it  in  the  letter  in  which  he  describes  this  day's  journey, 
he  adds,  "so  they  call  a  valley."  In  Glen  Shiel,  writes  Boswell, 


CLUNIE. 


i5&  EILAN    DONAN    CASTLE. 

they  saw  "where  the  battle  was  fought  in  1719."  It  was  in  the 
second  and  last  of  the  Spanish  invasions  of  our  island  that 
this  fight  took  place.  An  armament  of  ten  ships  of  war  and 
transports,  having  on  board  6,000  regular  troops  with  arms  for 
12,000  men,  had  sailed  from  Cadiz  under  the  command  of  the 
Duke  of  Ormond,  in  the  hope  of  restoring  the  Stuarts  to  that 
throne  which  they  had  forfeited  by  their  tyranny  and  their  folly. 
The  winds  and  waves  fought  for  us,  as  they  had  fought  long 
before  in  the  time  of  the  Great  Armada.  Two  ships  only  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  the  coast  of  Scotland.  They  landed  their 
troops  near  Eilan  Donan  Castle  on  Loch  Duich,  the  seat  of  the 
chief  of  the  Mackenzies.  Four  years  earlier  the  fighting  men  of 


— "*vr.-r-- 


KII.AN    DONAN. 


this  clan  had  gone  off  to  join  the  forces  of  the  Earl  of  Mar,  and 
had  taken  part  in  the  battle  of  Sheriffmuir.  The  grandfather  of 
the  present  minister  of  the  parish  in  which  Eilan  Donan  stands, 
had  known  an  aged  parishioner,  who  had  seen  the  clansmen  dance 
on  the  leads  of  the  castle  the  evening  before  they  started  on  their 
expedition.  There  were  among  them  four  chieftans,  each  bearing 
the  name  of  John,  and  known  as  "the  four  Johns  of  Scotland." 
They  all  danced  at  Eilan  Donan,  and  all  fell  at  Sheriffmuir.  I  was 
told  also  of  a  tradition  which  still  exists  among  the  people,  that  at 
Glen  Shiel  the  clansmen  had  sent  their  women  and  children  to 
wave  flags  on  the  hills  as  if  they  were  a  fresh  body  of  men. 
Deceived  by  this  appearance,  the  regular  troops  had  at  first 
retreated.  The  battle  with  the  Spaniards  was  fought  at  a  spot 
where  on  both  sides  the  mountains  draw  close,  and  the  valley 


BATTLE    OF   GLEN    SHIEL. 


159 


narrows  to  a  ravine  through  which  the  river  when  swollen  by  the 
rains  rushes  foaming  along  in  fine  cascades.  Along  the  right  bank 
the  rocks  were  so  steep  that  till  the  present  road  was  cut  no  pas- 
sage was  possible  ;  on  the  left  bank  there  was  a  narrow  opening 
beneath  a  precipitous  crag.  A  little  above  the  uppermost  of  the 
waterfalls  the  country  folks  still  point  out  "  the  black  colonel's 
grave" — some  swarthy  Spaniard,  perhaps,  who  fell  that  clay  far 
from  the  cork-groves  of  Southern  Spain.  They  tell  too  how  the 
Spanish  soldiers  who  surrendered  themselves  as  prisoners  of  war 


GLEN    SIIIEL   liATTLE-FIEI.U. 


first  cast  their  arms  into  the  deep  pool  below.  A  dreadful  story 
has  been  recorded  by  an  Englishman  who  lived  for  many  years  at 
Inverness.  "He  had  been  assured,"  he  writes,  "by  several 
officers  who  were  in  the  battle,  that  some  of  the  English  soldiers 
who  were  dangerously  wounded  were  left  behind  for  three  or 
four  hours.  When  parties  were  sent  to  them  with  hurdles  made 
to  serve  as  litters,  they  were  all  found  stabbed  with  dirks  in  twenty 
places."  '  The  story  may  not  be  true.  If  it  is,  the  clansmen  were 
as  savage  after  Glen  Shiel,  as  were  the  regular  troops  twenty-seven 
years  later  after  Culloden. 

1  Letters  from  a  Gentleman  in  the  North  of  Scotland,  ii.  179. 


i6o 


THE    MOUNTAIN    LIKE   A    CONE. 


In  the  warm  sunshine  of  a  day  in  June  we  sat  on  a  bank  above 
the  dark  pool  beneath  whose  eddying  waters  some  of  the  arms 
perhaps  still  lie.  There  was  a  gentle  breeze,  the  larks  were  singing 
over  our  heads,  the  water  was  sparkling  and  splashing,  the  sides  of 
the  torrent  were  overhung  with  the  mountain  ash  and  were  green 
with. ferns,  but  below  us  and  in  front  lay  a  scene  of  wild  desolation. 
Far  off  to  the  west  was  the  mountain  which  Boswell  had  pointed 
out  to  Johnson  as  being  like  a  cone.  "No,  Sir,"  said  Johnson. 


"It  would  be  called  so  in  a  book,  and  when  a  man  comes  to  look 
at  it,  he  sees  it  is  not  so.  It  is  indeed  pointed  at  the  top  ;  but  one 
side  of  it  is  larger  than  the  other."  Its  Gaelic  name,  Faochag, 
which  signifies  zuhelk,  shows  that  though  Johnson's  objection  may 
have  been  a  proof  of  his  "  perceptive  quickness,"  yet  Boswell's 
description  was  quite  accurate  enough  for  two  men  out  on  a  tour. 
We  tried  in  vain  to  distinguish  which  among  the  mountains  was  "the 
considerable  protuberance."  Perhaps  the  Johnson  Club  may  not 
disdain  to  appoint  a  committee  who  shall  be  instructed  to  bid  fare- 
well for  a  time  to  the  delights  of  Fleet  Street  and  visit  Glen  Shiel, 
with  full  powers  to  come  to  a  final  decision  in  this  important  matter. 


AUCHNASHEAL.  161 

A  long'  drive  down  the  steep  pass  brought  us  to  the  place  which 
Boswell  said  was  "a  rich  green  valley,  comparatively  speaking." 
A  little  way  beyond  it  lay  the  twenty  huts  which  formed  the 
village  of  Auchnasheal.  "  One  of  them,"  says  Johnson,  "  was  built 
of  loose  stones,  piled  up  with  great  thickness  into  a  strong,  though 
not  solid  wall.  From  this  house  we  obtained  some  great  pails  of 
milk,  and  having  brought  bread  with  us  were  very  liberally  regaled." 
The  curious  scene  which  they  witnessed  here  is  thus  described  by 
Boswell  : — 

"  We  sat  down  on  a  green  turf-seat  at  the  end  of  a  house ;  they  brought  us  out 
two  wooden  dishes  of  milk,1  which  we  tasted.  One  of  them  was  frothed  like  a 
syllabub.  I  saw  a  woman  preparing  it  with  such  a  slick  as  is  used  for  chocolate, 
and  in  the  same  manner.  We  had  a  considerable  circle  about  us,  men,  women, 
and  children,  all  M'Craas,  Lord  Seaforth's  people.  Not  one  of  them  could  speak 
English.  I  observed  to  Dr.  Johnson,  it  was  much  the  same  as  being  with  a  tribe 
of  Indians.  Johnson  :  '  Yes,  sir,  but  not  so  terrifying.'  I  gave  all  who  chose  it 
snuff  and  tobacco.  Governor  Trapaud  had  made  us  buy  a  quantity  at  Fort 
Augustus,  and  put  them  up  in  small  parcels.  I  also  gave  each  person  a  piece  of 
wheat  bread,  which  they  had  never  tasted  before.  1  then  gave  a  penny  apiece  to 
each  child.  I  told  Dr.  Johnson  of  this  :  upon  which  he  called  to  Joseph  and  our 
guides,  for  change  for  a  shilling,  and  declared  that  he  would  distribute  among  the 
children.  Upon  this  being  announced  in  Erse,  there  was  a  great  stir :  not  only  did 
some  children  come  running  down  from  neighbouring  huts,  but  I  observed  one 
black-haired  man,  who  had  been  with  us  all  along,  had  gone  off,  and  returned, 
bringing  a  very  young  child.  My  fellow-traveller  then  ordered  the  children  to  be 
drawn  up  in  a  row,  and  he  dealt  about  his  copper,  and  made  them  and  their 
parents  all  happy." 

"It  was  the  best  clay  the  McCraas  declared  they  had  seen  since 
the  time  of  the  old  laird  of  Macleod."  He,  no  doubt,  had  made  a 
halt  in  their  valley  on  his  way  to  or  from  Skye.  The  snuff  and 
tobacco  must  have  won  their  hearts  more  even  than  the  money. 
"Nothing,"  Johnson  was  told,  "gratified  the  Highlanders  so 
much."  Knox  recorded  a  few  years  later  that  "any  stranger  who 
cannot  take  a  pinch  of  snuff  or  give  one  is  looked  upon  with  an 
evil  eye."'  So  uncommon  was  wheaten  bread  even  a  quarter  of  a 
century  later,  that  Dr.  Garnett,  after  leaving  Inverary,  tasted  none 
till  he  reached  Inverness.3  At  present  it  can  be  had  in  most  places, 
being  brought  by  the  steamers  in  large  boxes  from  Glasgow,  and 
transported  inland  in  the  country  carts.  The  way  in  which  the 
villagers  had  gathered  round  the  travellers  had  startled  even 

1  Johnson  calls  them  fails.     In  his  time  pails  2  J.  Knox's   Tour  through  the  Higltlands  in 

were  only  made  of  wood,  if  we  can  trust  his  de-       1786,  p.  255. 
finition  of  the  word  in  his  Dictionary.  3  T.  Game-It's  Observations,  &c.,  ii.  12. 

Y 


T62  SHEEP    INSTEAD    OF    MEN. 

Johnson,  stoiit-heajted  though  he  was.  "  I  believe,"  he  says, 
"  they  were  without  any  evil  intention,  but  they  had  a  very  savage 
wiklness  of  aspect  and  manner."  My  friend,  the  minister  of  Glen 
Shiel,  pointed  out  to  me  that  it  was  no  doubt  mere  curiosity  which 
brought  them  round  him.  Johnson  was  as  strange  a  sight  to  them 
as  they  were  to  Johnson.  An  earlier  traveller  in  the  Hebrides 
has  expressed  this  very  well.  "  livery  man  and  thing 'I  met  with," 
he  writes,  "  seemed  a  novelty.  1  thought  myself  entering  upon  a 
new  scene  of  nature,  but  nature  rough  and  unpolished.  Men, 
manners,  habits,  buildings,  everything  different  from  our  own  ;  and 
if  we  thought  them  rude  and  barbarous,  no  doubt  the  people  had 
the  same  opinion  of  what  belonged  to  us,  and  the  wonder  was 
mutual." ' 

Auchnasheal  has  been  swept  away  ;  nothing  of  it  is  left  but  a 
few  banks  of  earth  and  the  foundations  of  the  one  stone  house. 
The  same  fate  has  befallen  it  which  befell  that  other  village  near 
Fort  Augustus  where  Coleridge  heard  a  Highland  widow  mourn 
over  the  desolation  of  the  land  : 

"  '  Within  this  space,'  she  said,  '  how  short  a  time  back ! — there  lived  a  hundred 
and  seventy-three  persons,  and  now  there  is  only  a  shepherd  and  an  underling  or 
two.  Yes,  Sir  !  One  hundred  and  seventy-three  Christian  souls,  man,  woman,  boy, 
girl,  and  babe,  and  in  almost  every  home  an  old  man  by  the  fire-side,  who  would 
tell  you  of  the  troubles  before  our  roads  were  made;  and  many  a  brave  youth 
among  them  who  loved  the  birthplace  of  his  forefathers,  yet  would  swing  about  his 
broad-sword,  and  want  but  a  word  to  march  off  to  the  battles  over  sea  ;  aye,  Sir, 
and  many  a  good  lass  who  had  a  respect  for  herself.  Well,  but  they  are  gone,  and 
with  them  the  bristled  bear  [barley]  and  the  pink  haver  [oats],  and  the  potato  plot 
that  looked  as  gay  as  any  flower-garden  with  its  blossoms  !  I  sometimes  fancy  that 
the  very  birds  are  gone — all  but  the  crows  and  the  gleads  [kites].  Well,  and  what 
then  ?  Instead  of  us  all,  there  is  one  shepherd  man,  and  it  may  be  a  pair  of  small 
lads — and  a  many,  many  sheep  !  And  do  you  think,  Sir,  that  God  allows  of  such 
proceedings?'" 

The  desolation  had  already  begun  even  at  the  time  of  our  travellers' 
visit.  Their  host  of  the  evening  before  was  following  seventy  of 
the  dalesmen  to  America,  whither  they  had  been  driven  by  a 
rack-renting  landlord.  "  I  asked,  him,"  writes  Johnson,  "  whether 
they  would  stay  at  home  if  they  were  well-treated.  He  answered 
with  indignation,  that  no  man  willingly  left  his  native  country." 

Taking  leave  of  these  inoffensive,  if  wild-looking  people,  our 
travellers  rode  on,  much  refreshed  by  their  repast.  They  had,  as 
Johnson  complained,  "  very  little  entertainment,  as  they  travelled 

1  W.  Sacheverell's  Account  of  the  Isle  of  Man,  &v.,  p.  128.  •  Lay  Simian,  eel.  1870,  p.  427. 


SHEEP-SHEARING    IN   SHIKI,  163 

either  for  the  eye  or  ear.  There  are,  I  fancy,"' he  adds,  "no  sing- 
ing birds  in.  the  Highlands."  It  is  odd  that  he  should  have  looked 
for  singing-birds  on  the  ist  of  September.  Had  it  been  earlier  in 
the  summer  he  would  have  found  melody  enough.  Nowhere  have 
I  heard  the  thrushes  sing  more  sweetly  than  at  Glenelg.  Wesley, 
visiting  Inverness  on  an  early  day  of  May,  "heard  abundance  of 
birds  welcoming  the  return  of  spring."  If  so  late  in  the  summer 
there  was  no  music  for  the  ear,  the  eye  surely  should  have  been 
something  more  than  entertained,  when  in  the  evening  light  the 
first  sight  was  caught  of  Loch  Duich  and  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic, 
and  the  barrier  of  mountains  which  so  nobly  encloses  them.  Yet 
they  are  passed  over  in  silence  by  both  our  travellers.  So  fine  is 
the  scenery  here  that  I  longed  to  make  a  stay  in  the  comfortable 
inn  at  Shiel,  near  the  head  of  the  loch.  Hut  we  were  forced  to 
press  on,  having  first  witnessed,  however,  sheep-shearing  on  a  large 
scale  on  a  farm  close  by.  In  front  of  a  storing-house  for  wool 
fifteen  men  were  seated  all  hard  at  work  with  their  shears,  their 
dogs  lying  at  their  feet.  They  wore  coloured  jerseys  in  which  the 
shades  of  blue  and  green  were  all  the  pleasanter  to  the  eye  because 
they  were  somewhat  faded.  Young  lads  were  bringing  up  the 
sheep  from  the  fold.  The  forelegs  of  each  animal  were  tied,  it  was 
then  lifted  on  to  a  narrow  bank  of  turf  which  had  been  raised  in 
front  of  each  shepherd,  thrown  on  its  back,  and  in  a  moment  the 
busy  shears  were  at  work.  In  the  long  summer  day  a  quick  hand 
could  finish  eighty,  we  were  told.  As  soon  as  the  fleece  fell  loose, 
an  old  woman  came  forward,  folded  it  up  tight,  and  carried  it  into 
the  store-house  ;  while  a  boy,  dipping  the  branding-iron  into  boiling 
pitch,  scored  the  side  of  each  sheep  with  a  deep  black  mark.  From 
time  to  time  the  farmer  went  round  with  a  bottle  and  a  small  glass, 
and  gave  each  man  a  dram  of  pure  whisky.  Not  far  from  here  on 
the  banks  of  the  loch  was  an  old  house  where  it  was  said  that 
Johnson  made  a  halt.  It  is  so  pleasant  a  place,  with  its  grove  of 
trees  and  its  garden  of  roses,  and  so  kindly  was  I  welcomed,  that  I 
would  willingly  believe  the  tradition.  I  could  wish,  however,  that 
he  and  Boswell  had  not  treated  it  with  the  same  neglect  as  they 
did  the  view.  Had  their  reception  been  as  kind  as  mine  they 
would  certainly  have  expressed  their  gratitude.  It  was  here 
that  I  was  told  of  the  address  which  he  made  to  the  mountain  at 
the  foot  of  which  the  house  stands,  and  up  which  he  was  now  to 

1  Wesley's  foiti-nal,  iv.  275. 


;64  MAM    RATTAKIN. 

climb,  "  Good-bye,  Mam  Rattakin,  I  hope  never  to  see  your  face 
again." '  They  did  not  reach  it  till  late  in  the  afternoon.  Both 
Johnson  and  the  horses  were  weary,  and  they  had  "a  terrible  steep 
to  climb."  Going  down  was  almost  worse  than  going  up,  for  his 
horse  now  and  then  stumbled  beneath  his  great  weight.  On  the 
edge  of  one  of  the  precipices  he  was,  he  thought,  in  real  danger. 
He  grew  fretful  with  fatigue,  and  was  not  comforted  by  the  absurd 
attempt  made  by  his  guide  to  amuse  him. 

"  Having  heard  him,  in  the  forenoon,  express  a  pastoral  pleasure  on  seeing  the 
goats  browsing,  just  when  the  doctor  was  uttering  his  displeasure,  the  fellow  cried, 
with  a  very  Highland  accent,  'See,  such  pretty  goats !'  Then  he  whistled  u>hu ! 
and  made  them  jump.  Little  did  he  conceive  what  Dr.  Johnson  was.  Here  now 
was  a  common  ignorant  Highland  clown  imagining  that  he  could  divert,  as  one  does 
a  child,  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  I  The  ludicrousncss,  absurdity,  and  extraordinary  con- 
trast between  what  the  fellow  fancied,  and  the  reality,  was  truly  comic." 

At  the  bottom  of  the  mountain  a  dreary  ride  of  six  or  seven 
long  miles  through  a  flat  and  uninteresting  country  still  awaited 
them.  They  were  too  tired  even  for  talk.  Boswell  urged  on  his 
horse  so  that  some  preparation  might  be  made  for  the  great  man 
at  the  inn  at  Glenelg. 

"  He  called  me  back,"  he  writes,  "  with  a  tremendous  shout,  and  was  really  in  a 
passion  with  me  for  leaving  him.  I  told  him  my  intentions,  but  he  was  not  satisfied, 
and  said,  '  I  >o  you  know,  I  should  as  soon  have  thought  of  picking  a  pocket,  as  doing 
so.'  lioswKi.i,.  'I  am  diverted  with  you,  Sir.'  JOHNSON.  'Sir,  I  could  never  be 
diverted  with  incivility.  Doing  such  a  thing  makes  one  lose  confidence  in  him  who 
has  done  it,  as  one  cannot  tell  what  he  may  do  next.' " 

Even  after  he  had  reached  the  inn  his  violence  continued.  "  Sir," 
he  said,  "  had  you  gone  on,  I  was  thinking  that  I  should  have 
returned  with  you  to  Edinburgh,  and  then  have  parted  from  you, 
and  never  spoken  to  you  more."  The  next  morning  "  he  owned 
that  he  had  spoken  in  passion  ;  that  he  would  not  have  done  what 
he  threatened  ;  and  that  if  he  had,  he  should  have  been  ten  times 
worse  than  I  ;  and  he  added,  '  Let's  think  no  more  on't.' "  As  we 
drove  down  the  mountain  on  a  summer  afternoon  the  peacefulness 
of  the  pastoral  scene,  the  sheep  dotted  about  quietly  nibbling  the 
grass,  with  their  lambs  by  their  side,  the  hazy  air  on  the  hills,  all 
seemed  to  contrast  strangely  with  the  violence  of  his  passion.  To 
an  old  man,  however,  tired  with  a  long  clay's  ride  over  rough  ways, 
and  in  want  of  his  dinner,  something  must  be  forgiven.  He  is  not 

1  See  ante,  p.  2.  Boswell  calls  the  mountain  Rattakin,  Johnson  Ratiken.  Its  name  I  was  told 
is  properly  written  Rattagun. 


< 


HERNERA    BARRACKS.  165 

the  only  tourist  who,  in  his  need  of  rest  and  food,  has  relieved  his 
feelings  by  quarrelling  with  his  companion. 

When  they  were  not  far  from  the  end  of  their  ride  they  passed 
the  barracks  at  Bernera.  "  I  looked  at  them  wistfully,"  writes 
Boswell  ;  "as  soldiers  have  always  everything  in  the  best  order ; 
but  there  was  only  a  sergeant  and  a  few  men  there."  Pennant, 
who  had  visited  them  a  year  earlier,  describes  them  as  "  handsome 
and  capacious,  designed  to  hold  two  hundred  men  ;  at  present 
occupied  only  by  a  corporal  and  six  soldiers.  The  country  lament 
this  neglect.  They  arc  now  quite  sensible  of  the  good  effects  of 
the  military,  by  introducing  peace  and  security  ;  they  fear  lest  the 
evil  days  should  return,  and  the  ancient  thefts  be  renewed  as  soon 
as  the  banditti  find  this  protection  of  the  people  removed."  The 
banditti  were  the  Highlanders  of  this  district  in  general.  Less  than 
thirty  years  earlier  "  the  whole  country  between  Loch  Ness  and 
the  sea  to  the  west  had  been,"  he  says,  "  a  den  of  thieves.  The 
constant  petition  at  grace  of  the  old  Highland  chieftains  was 
delivered  with  great  fervour  in  these  terms:  '  Lord,  turn  the  world 
upside  down,  that  Christians  may  make  bread  out  of  it.' " 

The  country  had  to  lament  a  loss  of  trade  as  well  as  of  security. 
The  cottagers  who  had  been  drawn  together  to  supply  the  wants 
of  the  soldiers  are  described  by  Knox,  a  few  years  later,  as  being 
in  the  utmost  poverty.  The  barracks  had  fallen  into  so  ruinous  a 
state,  that  it  justified  the  report  that  the  building  of  them  had  been 
"  a  notorious  job."  Even  the  sergeant  and  his  six  soldiers  had 
been  removed.  "  I  was  entertained,"  says  Knox,  "  by  the  com- 
manding officer  and  his  whole  garrison.  The  former  was  an  old 
corporal,  and  the  latter  was  the  corporal's  wife  :  the  entertainment 
snuff  and  whisky. ": 

When  at  length  our  travellers,  "  weary  and  disgusted,"  reached 
Glenelg,  "  our  humour,"  writes  Johnson,  "  was  not  much  mended 
by  our  inn,  which,  though  it  was  built  of  lime  and  slate,  the  High- 
lander's description  of  a  house  which  he  thinks  magnificent,  had 
neither  wine,  bread,  eggs,  nor  anything  that  we  could  eat  or  drink. 
When  we  were  taken  upstairs  a  dirty  fellow  bounced  out  of  the  bed 
where  one  of  us  was  to  lie.  Boswell  blustered,  but  nothing  could 
be  got.  At  last  a  gentleman  in  the  neighbourhood,  who  heard  of 

1  Voyage  to  the  Hebrides,  eel.  1774,  p.  336.  cxx,  103.     I  do  not  know  whether  an  earlier  in- 

2  Ib. ,  p.  345.  stance  can  be  found  of  the  expression  "notorious 

3  Tour  through  Hit  Highlands  in  1786,  pp.        job  "  than  the  above. 


1 66 


TIIK    INN   AT   GLENELG. 


our  arrival,  sent  us  rum  and  white  sugar.  Boswell  was  now  pro- 
vided fur  in  part,  aiul  the  landlord  prepared  some  mutton  chops 
which  we  could  not  eat,  and  killed  two  hens,  of  which  Uoswell 
made  his  servant  broil  a  limb,  with  what  effect  I  know  not.  We 
had  a  lemon  and  a  piece  of  bread,  which  supplied  me  with  my 
supper."  Boswell's  account  of  the  place  is  no  less  dismal.  "  There 
was  no  provender  for  our  horses  ;  so  they  were  sent  to  grass  with 
a  man  to  watch  them.  A  maid  showed  us  upstairs  into  a  room 
damp  and  dirty,  with  bare  walls,  a  variety  of  bad  smells,  a  coarse 
black  greasy  fir  table,  and  forms  of  the  same  kind  ;  and  out  of  a 


SKYE,    KROM    GLENKLG. 


wretched  bed  started  a  fellow  from  his  sleep,  like  Edgar  in  King 
Lear,  '  Poor  Tom's  a  cold.' '  Johnsdn  slept  in  his  clothes  and  great 
coat,  on  a  bed  of  hay  ;  "  Boswell  laid  sheets  upon  his  bed  which  he 
had  brought  from  home,  and  reposed  in  linen  like  a  gentleman." 

Here,  again,  was  I  struck  by  the  contrast  between  the  past  and 
the  present.  Of  the  old  inn,  with  all  its  magnificence  of  lime  and 
slate,  not  even  the  site  is  known.  In  its  place  stands  a  roomy  and 
comfortable  hotel.  It  was  on  the  2ist  of  June  when  we  visited 


iffitVfe* 


H 

_ 


u 

s 


P6 

u; 

a 
u; 
C8 


LANDING    ON    SKYE. 


167 


it,  and  we  found  it  halt-asleep  and  almost  empty,  for  the  season 
had  not  yet  begun.  At  the  most  delightful  time  of  the  year,  when 
the  days  were  at  their  longest  and  no  candles  were  burnt,  there  was 
scarcely  a  single  stranger  to  enjoy  the  quiet  and  the  beauty.  There 
were  woods  and  flowering  shrubs,  rhododendrons  and  the  Portugal 
laurel,  and  close  to  the  water's  edge  the  laburnum  in  full  bloom. 
There  were  all  the  sights  of  peaceful  country  life — the  cocks  crow- 
ing, the  sheep  answering  with  their  bleats  their  bleating  lambs,  the 
cows  with  their  calves  in  the  noonday  heat  seeking  the  shade  of 
the  tall  and  wide-spreading  trees.  The  waves  lapped  gently  on 
the  shore,  and  in  the  distance,  below  the  rocky  coast  of  Skye,  the 
waters  were  whitened  by  the  countless  sea-birds.  We  drove  up  a 
beautiful  valley  to  the  1'ictish  forts,  and  saw  an  eagle  hovering  high 
above  us. 


THE    SOUN1)    OK    SLATIi. 


COKKICHATACHIN    (SEPTEMBER    6-8  ;    25-28.) 

On  the  morning  of  Thursday,  September  2,  our  travellers  took 
boat  at  Glenelg,  "  and  launched  into  one  of  the  straits  of  the 
Atlantic  Ocean."  Rowing 
along  the  Sound  ol  Slate  to- 
wards the  south-west,  they 
reached  the  shore  of  Armi- 
dale  in  Skye  early  in  the 
afternoon.  They  had  in- 
tended to  visit  in  his  castle 
the  owner  of  half  the  island, 

Sir  Alexander  Macdonald.  But,  wrote  Johnson,  "  he  had  come 
from  his  seat  in  the  middle  of  the  island  to  a  small  house  on 
the  shore,  as  we  believe,  that  he  might  with  less  reproach  enter- 
tain us  meanly."  Boswell  was  so  much  disgusted  with  this 
chieftain's  parsimony,  that  he  "meditated  an  escape  from  his  house 
the  very  next  day  ;  but  Dr.  Johnson  resolved  that  we  should 
weather  it  out  till  Monday."  When  the  day  of  escape  at  length 
came,  they  started  on  horseback  in  a  north-westerly  direction  for 
Corrichatachin,  a  farm-house  near  Broadford,1  belonging  to  Sir  A. 
Macdonald,  but  tenanted  by  a  Mackinnon,  a  clan  to  which  all  this 
district  had  formerly  belonged.  "  Here  they  were  entertained 
better  than  at  the  landlord's  ;  "  here  "  they  enjoyed  the  comfort  of  a 

1  Boswcll  calls  the  place  Broadfoot. 


i68  CORRICHATACHIN. 

table  plentifully  furnished,  and  here  for  the  first  time  they  had  a 
specimen  of  the  joyous  social  manners  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Highlands."  Hooks,  too,  were  not  wanting,  both  Latin  and  English  ; 
among  them  was  a  co^y  of  the  abridgment  of  Johnson's  Dictionary. 
He  might  have  said  here,  as  four  years  later  with  some  eagerness 
he  said  at  Lord  Scarsdale's,  when  he  discovered  the  same  book  in 
his  lordship's  dressing-room,  "  Qua;  regio  in  terris  nostri  non  plena 
laboris?"  Here,  too,  he  wrote  that  Latin  Ode  to  Mrs.  Thrale, 
which  so  cauirht  Sir  Walter  Scott's  imagination,  that  when  he  first 

C5  <-> 

set  foot  on  Skye,  it  was  the  thing  which  first  came  into  his 
thoughts.  And  here  on  their  return  after  a  lapse  of  nearly  three 
weeks,  Boswell  got  so  tipsy  and  so  piously  penitent  next  day.  He 
had  not  gone  to  bed  till  nearly  five  o'clock  on  a  Sunday  morning, 
by  which  time  four  bowls  of  punch  had  been  finished. 

"  I  awaked  at  noon,"  he  records,  "  with  a  severe  headache.  I  was  much  vexed 
that  I  should  have  been  guilty  of  such  a  riot,  and  afraid  of  a  reproof  from  Dr. 
Johnson.  I  thought  it  very  inconsistent  with  that  conduct  which  I  ought  to 
maintain,  while  the  companion  of  the  Rambler.  About  one  he  came  into  my  room, 
and  accosted  me,  '  What,  drunk  yet  ? '  His  tone  of  voice  was  not  that  of  severe 
upbraiding;  so  I  was  relieved  a  little.  'Sir,'  said  I,  'they  kept  me  up.'  He 
answered,  '  No,  you  kept  them  up,  you  drunken  dog.'  This  he  said  with  good- 
humoured  English  pleasantry.  Soon  afterwards,  Corrichatachin,  Col,  and  other 
friends,  assembled  round  my  bed.  Corri  had  a  brandy-bottle  and  glass  with  him, 
and  insisted  I  should  take  a  dram.  'Ay,'  said  Dr.  Johnson,  'fill  him  drunk 
again.  Do  it  in  the  morning,  that  we  may  laugh  at  him  all  day.  It  is  a  poor  thing 
for  a  fellow  to  get  drunk  at  night,  and  sculk  to  bed,  and  let  his  friends  have  no 
sport.'  Finding  him  thus  jocular,  I  became  quite  easy  ;  and  when  I  offered  to  get 
up,  he  very  good-naturedly  said,  'You  need  be  in  no  such  hurry  now.'  I  took  my 
host's  advice,  and  drank  some  brandy,  which  I  found  an  effectual  cure  for  my  head- 
ache. When  I  rose,  I  went  into  Dr.  Johnson's  room,  and  taking  up  Mrs.  M'Kinnon's 
Prayer-book,  I  opened  it  at  the  Twentieth  Sunday  after  Trinity,  in  the  epistle  for 
which  I  read,  '  And  be  not  drunk  with  wine,  wherein  there  is  excess.'  Some 
would  have  taken  this  as  a  divine  interposition." 

Before  the  afternoon  was  over,  by  the  help  of  good  cheer  and 
good  society,  he  felt  himself  comfortable  enough,  and  his  piety  was 
drowned  in  philosophy. 

"  I  then  thought,"  he  says,  "  that  my  hist  night's  riot  was  no  more  tlum  such  a 
social  excess  as  may  happen  without  much  moral  blame ;  and  recollected  that  some 
physicians  maintained,  that  a  fever  produced  by  it  was,  upon  the  whole,  good  for 
health." 

The  Highlanders  were  more  seasoned  drinkers  than  he  was,  for 
the  following  night  they  had  another  drinking-bout. 

"They  kept  a  smart  lad  lying  on  a  table  in  the  corner  of  the  room,  ready  to 
spring  up  and  bring  the  kettle  whenever  it  was  wanted.  They  continued  drinking, 


>- 


CORRICHATACHIN.  169 

and  singing  Erse  songs,  till  near  five  in  the  morning,  when  they  all  came  into  my 
room,  where  some  of  them  had  beds.  Unluckily  lor  me,  they  found  a  bottle  of 
punch  in  a  corner,  which  they  drank  ;  and  Corrichatachin  went  for  another,  which 
they  also  drank.  They  made  many  apologies  for  disturbing  me.  I  told  them, 
that,  having  been  kept  awake  by  their  mirth,  I  had  once  thoughts  of  getting  up  and 
joining  them  again  Honest  Corrichatachin  said,  'To  have  had  you  done  so,  I 


Johnson  was  better  lodged  than  Bosvvell,  for  he  had  a  room  to 
himself  at  night,  though  in  the  day  it  was  the  place  where  the 
servants  took  their  rrteals.  Yet  he  was  pleased  with  the  kindness 
shown  him,  and  discovered  no  deficiencies.  "  Our  entertainment," 
he  wrote,  "  was  not  only  hospitable  but  elegant."  The  company 
he  describes  as  being  "  more  numerous  and  elegant  than  it  could 
have  been  supposed  easy  to  collect."  He  gave  as  much  pleasure 
as  he  received,  and  when  he  left,  "  the  Scottish  phrase  of  honest 
man,  which  is  an  expression  of  kindness  and  regard,  was  again  and 
again  applied  to  him." 

The  house  he  describes  as  "  very  pleasantly  situated  between 
two  brooks,  with  one  of  the  highest  hills  of  the  island  behind  it." 
Boswell  with  good  reason  remarks  on  the  entire  absence  of  a 
garden.  "  Corrichatachin,"  he  writes,  "  has  not  even  a  turnip,  a 
carrot,  or  a  cabbage."  Where  these  were  wanting,  there  would  be 
no  roses  clustering  on  the  porch,  no  flower-beds  before  the  door. 
This  scene  of  hospitality  and  jovial  riot  is  now  a  ruin.  We 
walked  to  it  from  Broadford  across  a  moorland,  the  curlews  flying 
round  us  with  their  melancholy  cry.  The  two  brooks  were 
shrunk  with  the  long  drought,  and  flowed  in  very  quiet  streams. 
Yet  one  of  them,  I  was  told,  in  a  time  of  flood  once  broke  into 
Mackinnon's  house.  We  crossed  it  on  a  bridge  formed  of  two 
trees,  with  a  long  piece  of  iron  wire  for  a  railing.  There  we  rested 
awhile,  now  looking  clown  at  the  sunlight  dancing  in  the  shallows, 
and  now  gazing  at  the  ruined  farm  and  the  mountain  rising  behind 
in  steep  crags  of  barren  rock.  Far  up  the  valley  to  the  west  a 
flock  of  sheep  was  coming  white  from  the  shearing,  bleating  as 
they  spread  out  along  the  hill-side.  Another  flock  the  dogs  were 
gathering  into  what  had  been  the  yard  of  the  old  house.  It  had 
been  solidly  built,  two  stories  high,  about  thirty-six  feet  long  by 
fifteen  broad  in  the  inside  measurements.  On  the  outside,  over  the 
door,  was  carved  :— 

L.  M.  K.     J.  M.  K. 

i?47- 

z 


170 


CHANGES   IN    SKYK. 


Johnson's  host  was  Lachlan  Mackinnon,  and  the  initials  are,  I 
suppose,  his  and  his  wife's.  It  was  but  a  small  place  to  hold  the 
large  and  festive  company  that  was  gathered  at  the  time  of  our 
traveller's  visit ;  but,  as  Boswell  says,  "  it  was  partly  done  by 
separating  man  and  wife,  and  putting  a  number  of  men  in  one  room 
and  of  women  in  another."  As  I  looked  up  at  the  windows  which 
still  remain,  though  the  floors  have  fallen  in,  I  wondered  which  was 
the  room  which  was  Johnson's  chamber  at  night,  and  the  ladies' 
parlour  by  day,  where  Boswell  sat  among  them  writing  his  journal. 
At  the  Hotel  at  Broadford,  I  was  struck  by  the  change  that  has 
come  about  since  Johnson's  time  "  in  this  verge  of  European  life," 
to  use  the  term  which  he  applied  to  Skye.  Corrichatachin  remains 
almost  as  he  saw  it.  A  house  had  fallen  in  ruins  and  had  been 
replaced  by  another,  and  a  small  grove  of  trees  had  been  planted. 
A  garden  had  been  made,  and  patches  of  ground  which  once  were 
pasture  had  been  ploughed  up.  But  the  broad  face  of  nature  is 
unchanged.  This  "  region  of  obscurity,"  is,  however,  obscure  no 
longer.  Where  he  was  nearly  ten  weeks  without  receiving  letters, 
now  even  the  poor,  far  from  their  homes,  by  means  of  the  tele- 
graphic wire  can,  as  it  were,  "live  along  the  line."  A  maid-servant 
who  goes  to  distant  services,  on  her  arrival,  by  means  of  a 
telegram,  at  once  frees  her  mother  from  her  "heart-struck  anxious 
care."  The  owner  of  the  hotel,  from  whom  I  learnt  this  fact,  said 
that  "  Rowland  Hill  had  done  more  for  the  poor  man  than  all  the 
ministers  since,  and  that  many  of  the  Highlanders  in  gratitude  had 
called  their  sons  after  him." 


CORRICHATACHIN. 


THE    HIGHLAND   DRESS.  171 


RAASAY  (SEPTEMBER  8-12). 

From  Corrichatachin  our  travellers  rode  down   to  the  sea-side 
at  Broadford,  two  miles  off,  where  they  took  boat  for  the  island  of 
Raasay.     The  Macgillichallum,  or  laird  of  Raasay,  John  Macleod, 
had  politely  sent  his  coach  and  six,  as  he  called  his  six-oared  boat, 
to  fetch  them  over.  Though  it  was  "  thus  dignified  with  a  pompous 
name,"  writes  Johnson,  "  there  was  no  seat,  but  an  occasional  bundle 
of  straw.    I  never,"  he  acids,  "  saw  in  the  Hebrides  a  boat  furnished 
with  benches."      In  it  had  come  the  learned  Donald  M'Oueen,  a 
minister,  and  old  Malcolm  Macleod,  who  had  been  out  in  the  '45, 
and  had  aided  the  Young  Pretender  in  his  escape.      I  had  at  one 
time   thought  that  it  was  to  him    that  Johnson   alludes,  when  he 
speaks  of  having  met  one  man,  and  one  only,  who  defied  the  law 
against  wearing  the  Highland  dress.     "  By  him,"  he  adds,  "it  was 
worn  only  occasionally  and  wantonly."       I  now  believe,  however, 
that  it  was   Macdonald    of    Kingsburgh  who  was   meant.      Ever 
since  the  last  rebellion  the  national  garb  had  been  suppressed.      It 
had  been  enacted  that  "  no  person  whatsoever  should  wear  or  put 
on  those  parts  of  the  Highland  clothes,  garb,  or  habiliments  which 
are  called  the  plaid,  philibeg, 2  or  little  kilt,  or  any  of  them."     Any 
offender  "  not  being  a  landed  man,  or  the  son  of  a  landed  man  " 
shall  be  tried  before  a  justice  of  the  peace  "in  a  summary  way,  and 
shall  be  delivered  over  to  serve  as  as  a  soldier."1      Even  the  loyal 
Highlanders  in  the  Duke  of  Cumberland's  army  had  been  com- 
pelled in  part  to  adopt  the  southern  garb.      "  Near  Linlithgow," 
writes  Henderson,  "  the  whole  army  passed  in  review  before  their 
illustrious  General.     When  the    Highlanders    passed    he   seemed 
much   delighted    with   their  appearance,    saying,  '  They  look  very 
well ;  have  breeches,  and  are  the  better  for  that." 4    Some  years  later 
when  Pitt  "  called  for  soldiers  from  the  mountains  of  the  North," 
"to  allure  them  into  the  army  it  was  thought  proper  to  indulge 
them  in  the  continuance  of  their  national  dress."  s    Numerous  were 
the  devices  to  evade  the  law,  and  great  must  have  been  the  per- 
plexities of  the  magistrates.    One  of  Wolfe's  officers  wrote  in  1/52, 

1  Johnson's  Works,  ix.  47.  the  19  Get.  //.,  made  in //if  21  Geo,  II,     Edin- 

2  The  philibeg,  or fillibeg,  is  defined  as  "the       burgh,  174!*,  p.  15. 

dress  or  petticoat  reaching  nearly  to  the  knees."  4   Henderson's  History  of  I  lie  Kebellion,  p.  99. 

3  An    Act  to   AnictiJ  t/u-  Disarming  Act  of          *  Johnson's  Works,  ix.  94. 


I72  THF.    HICMI.AN1)    DRESS. 

that  "one  of  his  Serjeants  luul  taken  a  fellow  wearing  a  blanket  in 
form  of  a  philibeg.  He  carried  him  to  Perth,  but  the  Sheriff-sub- 
stitute did  not  commit  him,  because  the  blanket  was  not  a  tartan. 
On  his  return  he  met  another  of  the  same  kind  ;  so,  as  he  found  it 
needless  to  carry  him  before  a  magistrate,  he  took  the  blanket- 
philibeg  and  cut  it  to  pieces."  Another  officer  wrote  two  months 
later  :  "  One  of  my  men  brought  me  a  man  to  all  appearance  in  a 
philibeg  ;  but  on  close  examination  I  found  it  to  be  a  woman's 
petticoat,  which  answers  every  end  of  that  part  of  the  Highland 
dress.  I  sent  him  to  the  Sheriff-substitute,  who  dismissed  him." 

Smollett,  in  his  Humphry  Clinker,  pleads  the  cause  of  the 
dejected  Highlanders,  who  had  not  only  been  deprived  of  their 
ancient  garb,  but,  "  what  is  a  greater  hardship  still,  are  compelled 
to  wear  breeches,  a  restraint  which  they  cannot  bear  with  any 
degree  of  patience  ;  indeed  the  majority  wear  them,  not  in  the 
proper  place,  but  on  poles  or  long  staves  over  their  shoulders." 
In  1782  the  Marquis  of  Graham  brought  in  a  bill  to  repeal  this 
prohibitory  Act.  One  of  the  English  members  asked  that  if  it 
became  law,  the  dress  should  still  be  prohibited  in  England.  When 
six  Highland  soldiers  had  been  quartered  at  a  house  in  Hampshire, 
"  the  singularity  of  their  dress,"  he  said,  "  so  much  attracted  the 
eyes  of  the  wife  and  daughters  of  the  man  of  the  house  that  he  found 
it  expedient  to  take  a  lodging  for  them  at  another  place. ":  A  Low- 
land friend  tells  me  that  one  day  at  church  her  grandfather  turned 
two  Highland  officers  out  of  his  pew,  as  he  thought  their  dress  im- 
proper where  there  were  ladies.  This  she  learnt  from  her  aunt 
who  had  been  present.  Old  Malcolm  Macleod,  if  he  did  not 
return  altogether  to  the  ancient  dress,  nevertheless  broke  the  law. 
"  He  wore  a  pair  of  brogues  ;  tartan  hose  which  came  up  only  near 
to  his  knees,  and  left  them  bare  ;  a  purple  camblet  kilt ;  a  black 
waistcoat  ;  a  short  green  cloth  coat  bound  with  gold  cord  ;  a  yel- 
lowish bushy  wig  ;  a  large  blue  bonnet  with  a  gold  thread  button." 
Sir  Walter  Scott  tells  us  that  "  to  evade  the  law  against  the 
tartan  dress,  the  Highlanders  used  to  dye  their  variegated  plaids 
and  kilts  into  blue,  green,  or  any  single  colour."'1  Malcolm  had 
done  this  with  his  kilt,  but  in  his  hose  he  asserted  his  inde- 
pendence. Yet  so  early  as  the  beginning  of  last  century,  according 
to  Martin,  the  Highland  dress  was  fast  dying  out  in  Skye.  "  They 

1  Wright's  Life  of  Wolfe,  pp.  216-18.  3   Gentleman's  Magazine,  1782,  p.  307. 

"  Humphry  Clinker,  iii.  20.  4  Croker's  Boswell,  p.  316. 


THE   ROW   TO    RAASAY.  173 

now,"  he  writes,  "  generally  use  coat,  waistcoat,  and  breeches,  as 
elsewhere.  Persons  of  distinction  wear  the  garb  in  fashion  in  the 
south  of  Scotland."  ' 

While  Johnson  in  the  voyage  to  Raasay  "sat  high  on  the  stern 
of  the  boat  like  a  magnificent  Triton,"  old  Malcolm,  no  less  magni- 
ficent through  his  attire,  took  his  turn  at  tugging  the  oar,  "  singing 
an  Erse  song,  the  chorus  ot  which  was  Haty in  foam  foam  eri,  with 
words  of  his  own."  The  original  was  written  in  praise  of  Allan  of 
Muidart,  a  chief  of  the  Clanranald  family.  The  following  is  a  trans- 
lation of  the  complete  chorus  : 

"  Along,  along,  then  haste  along, 

For  here  no  more  I'll  stay  ; 
I'll  braid  and  bind  my  tresses  long, 

And  o'er  the  hills  away."" 

In  the  sound  between  Scalpa  and  Raasay,  "the  wind,"  writes 
Boswell,  "  made  the  sea  very  rough.  I  did  not  like  it.  '  This  now,' 
said  Johnson,  'is  the  Atlantic.  If  I  should  tell,  at  a  tea-table  in 
London,  that  I  have  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  an  open  boat,  how 
they'd  shudder,  and  what  a  fool  they'd  think  me  to  expose  myself 
to  such  clanger.'"  In  his  letter  to  Mrs.  Thrale  he  makes  light  of 
the  roughness  of  the  waves.  "  The  wind  blew  enough  to  give  the 
boat  a  kind  of  dancing  agitation."  Fora  moment  or  two  his  temper 
was  ruffled,  for  by  the  carelessness  of  their  man-servant  his  spurs 
were  carried  overboard.  "  There  was  something  wild,"  he  said, 
"  in  letting  a  pair  of  spurs  be  carried  into  the  sea  out  of  a  boat." 
What  a  fine  opening  we  have  here  for  the  enthusiasm  of  the  John- 
son Club  !  An  expedition  properly  equipped  should  be  sent  to 
dredge  in  this  sound  for  the  spurs,  with  directions  to  proceed  after- 
wards to  the  Isle  of  Mull,  and  make  search  for  that  famous  piece 
of  timber,  his  walking-stick,  which  was  lost  there. 

As  the  boat  drew  near  the  land  the  singing  of  the  reapers  on 
shore  was  mingled  with  the  song  of  the  rowers.  It  was  frequently 
noticed  by  travellers  how  the  Highlanders  loved  to  keep  time  with 
their  songs  to  whatever  they  were  doing.  Gray  heard  the  masons 
singing  in  Erse  all  day  long  as  they  were  building  the  park  wall  at 
Glamis  Castle.3  An  earlier  writer  tells  how  "  the  women  in  harvest 
work  keep  time  by  several  barbarous  tones  of  the  voice  ;  and  stoop 
and  rise  together  as  regularly  as  a  rank  of  soldiers  when  they 

'  Martin's  Description  of  the  Western  Islands,  pp.  206-7. 
2  Croker's  Boswell,  p.  364.  3  Gray's  Works,  iv.  55. 


i74  HIGHLAND   SINGING. 

ground  their  arms.  They  proceed  with  great  alacrity,  it  being 
disgraceful  for  anyone  to  be  out  ot  time:  with  the  sickle  "  '  Accord- 
ing to  Pennant,  "  in  the  songs  of  the  rowers  the  notes  are  commonly 
long,  the  airs  solemn  and  slow,  rarely  cheerful,  it  being  impossible 
for  the  oars  to  keep  a  quick  time  ;  the  words  generally  have  a  re- 
ligious turn,  consonant  to  that  of  the  people."1  Ramsay  of  Ochter- 
tyre  says  that  "  the  women's  songs  are  in  general  very  short  and 
plaintive.  In  travelling  through  the  remote  Highlands  in  harvest, 
the  sound  of  these  little  bands  on  every  side  has  a  most  pleasing 
effect  on  the  mind  of  a  stranger."  The  custom,  we  learn  from  him, 
was  rapidly  dying  out  at  the  end  of  last  century/1  I  did  not  myself 
hear  any  of  this  singing  in  my  wanderings  ;  but  a  Scotch  friend 
tells  me  that  more  than  forty  years  ago  she  remembers  seeing  a 
field  in  which  thirty  Highland  reapers  were  at  work  in  couples,  a 
man  and  a  woman  together,  all  singing  their  Gaelic  songs. 

Three  or  four  hours'  stout  rowing  brought  the  boat  to  the  shore 
below  the  Laird  of  Raasay's  house.  "  The  approach  to  it,"  says 
Boswell,  "  was  very  pleasing.  We  saw  before  us  a  beautiful  bay,  well 
defended  by  a  rocky  coast ;  a  good  family  mansion  ;  a  fine  verdure 
about  it,  with  a  considerable  number  of  trees  ;  and  beyond  it  hills  and 
mountains  in  gradation  of  wilclness."  At  the  entrance  to  the  bay  is  a 
rocky  islet,  where  we  landed,  when  we  visited  Raasay  on  the  after- 
noon of  a  bright  June  clay.  As  it  was  unoccupied,  we  took  formal 
possession,  with  a  better  claim  than  the  European  nations  have  to  the 
well-peopled  islands  of  the  Southern  Seas.  Its  name,  we  learnt 
from  our  boatman,  was  Goat  Island,  and  just  as  Johnson  was 
addressed  as  Island  Isa,  so  we  were  willing  to  derive  our  title  from 
our  new  acquisition.  We  passed  a  full  half  an  hour  in  our  domain 
with  great  satisfaction.  Who,  we  asked,  "  would  change  the  rocks 
of  Scotland  for  the  Strand  ?  "  The  waves  beat  on  our  coast,  break- 
ing in  white  crests  far  away  in  the  open  sound.  We  looked  across 
the  little  bay  on  the  sunny  shore  of  our  nearest  neighbour,  the 
Laird  of  Raasay,  and  did  not  envy  him  the  pleasant  grassy  slope, 
almost  ready  for  the  scythe,  which  stretched  from  his  mansion  to  the 
edge  of  the  sea,  or  the  fine  woods  which  covered  the  hills  at  the 
back  of  his  house.  We  thought  how  much  the  scene  is  changed 
since  our  travellers  saw  it.  Then  there  was  no  landing-place ; 

1   Letters  from  a  Gentleman  in  the  North  oj  ]<  Scotland  and  Scotsmen    in   tin   Eighteenth 

Scotland,  ii.   142.  Century,  ii.  410,  415. 

-   Voyage  to  the  Hebrides,  ed.  1774,  p.  291. 


RAASAY. 


'75 


steps  had  not  been  even  cut  in  the  natural  rock.  "  The  crags," 
Johnson  complained,  "  were  irregularly  broken,  and  a  false  step 
would  have  been  very  mischievous."  Yet  "  a  few  men  with  pick- 
axes might  have  cut  an  ascent  of  stairs  out  of  any  part  of  the  rock 
in  a  week's  time."  There  is  now  a  small  stone  pier.  The  hayfield, 
in  the  memory  of  people  still  living,  was  all  heathland  down  to  the 
water's  edge,  with  a  rough  cart-track  running  across  it.  Trees  have 
been  everywhere  planted,  and  the  hill-sides  are  beautifully  wooded. 
Even  before  Johnson's  time  something  had  been  done  in  the  way 


of  improvement.  Martin,  in  his  Description  of  the  Western  Isles,1 
mentions  "  an  orchard  with  several  sorts  of  berries,  pot-herbs,  &c." 
In  the  copy  of  Martin's  work  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  Toland  has 
entered  in  the  margin  :  "  Wonderful  in  Scotland  anywhere."  Bos- 
well  mentions  "  a  good  garden,  plentifully  stocked  with  vegetables, 
and  strawberries,  raspberries,  currants,  &c."  The  house — that 
"neat  modern  fabric,"  which  Johnson  praises  as  "the  seat  of  plenty, 
civility,  and  cheerfulness  " — still  remains,  but  it  is  almost  hidden 
beneath  the  great  additions  which  have  in  later  years  been  made. 
In  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Thrale,  he  says  :  "  It  is  not  large,  though  we 

1    Page  164. 


176  THE    MACLEODS   OF   RAASAY. 

were  told  in  our  passage  that  it  had  eleven  fine  rooms,  nor  magni- 
ficently furnished,  hut  our  utensils  '  were  most  commonly  silver. 
We  went  up  into  a  dining  room  about  as  large  as  your  blue  room, 
where  we  had  something  given  us  to  eat,  and  tea  and  coffee."  The 
blue  room,  less  fortunate  than  its  rival  at  Raasay,  has  been  swept 
away,  with  all  the  beauty  and  the  associations  of  Streatham  Park. 
I  was  shown  his  chamber,  with  his  portrait  hanging  on  the  wall.  A 
walking-stick  which  he  had  used  is  treasured  up.  From  his 
windows  he  looked  down  into  the  garden.  However  productive  it 
may  have  been,  it  was  not,  I  fear,  so  gay  with  flowers  as  it  was 
when  I  saw  it,  or  so  rich  in  shrubs.  I  walked  between  fuchsia 
hedges  that  were  much  higher  than  my  head.  One  fuchsia  bush, 
or  rather  tree,  which  stood  apart,  covered  with  its  branches  a  round 
of  sixty  feet.  Its  trunk  was  as  thick  as  a  man's  thigh.  The 
Western  Islands  are  kept  free  from  severe  frosts  by  the  waters  of 
the  Gulf  Stream,  so  that  in  the  spots  which  face  the  southern  suns, 
and  are  sheltered  from  the  north  and  east,  there  is  a  growth  which 
rivals,  and  perhaps  outdoes,  that  of  Devonshire  and  Cornwall. 

Not  far  from  the  house  is  the  ruined  chapel  which  provoked 
Johnson's  sarcasm.  "It  has  been,"  he  writes,  "for  many  years 
popular  to  talk  of  the  lazy  devotion  of  the  Romish  clergy;  over  the 
sleepy  laziness  of  men  that  erected  churches  we  may  indulge  our 
superiority  with  a  new  triumph,  by  comparing  it  with  the  fervid 
activity  of  those  who  suffer  them  to  fall."  Boswell  took  a  more 
cheerful  view.  "  There  was  something  comfortable,"  he  wrote,  "  in 
the  thought  of  being  so  near  a  piece  of  consecrated  ground."  Here 
they  looked  upon  the  tombs  of  the  Macleods  of  Raasay,  that 
ancient  family  which  boasted  that  "  during  four  hundred  years  they 
had  not  gained  or  lost  a  single  acre;"  which  was  worthily  repre- 
sented in  their  host ;  which  lasted  for  two  generations  longer,  and 
then  sank  in  ruins  amidst  the  wild  follies  of  a  single  laird.  Whilst 
rack-renting  landlords  were  driving  their  people  across  the  wide 
Atlantic,  Macleod  of  Raasay  could  boast  "  that  his  island  had  not 
yet  been  forsaken  by  a  single  inhabitant."  Pleased  with  all  he  saw, 
"  Johnson  was  in  fine  spirits.  '  This,'  he  said,  '  is  truly  the 
patriarchal  life  ;  this  is  what  we  came  to  find.' "  He  was  delighted 
with  the  free  and  friendly  life,  the  feasting  and  the  dancing,  and  all 

'  Johnson  seems  to  use  this  word  in  much  the  Hebrides  "  they  use  silver  on  all  occasions  where 

same  sense  as  Caliban  does  when  he  speaks  of  it  is  common  in  England,  nor  did  I  ever  find  a 

Prosperous  "brave  utensils"  (The  Tempest,  act  spoon  of  horn  but  in  one  house." 
iii.  sc.  2).     In  his  fourney,  he  says  that  in  the 


THE    PATRIARCHAL    LIFE.  177 

"  the  pleasures  of  this  little  Court."  The  evening  of  their  arrival, 
as  soon  as  dinner  was  finished,  "  the  carpet  was  taken  up,  the  fiddler 
of  the  family  came,  and  a  very  vigorous  and  general  dance  was 
begun."  According  to  Boswell,  "Johnson  was  so  delighted  with 
this  scene,  that  he  said,  '  I  know  not  how  we  shall  get  away.'  It 
entertained  me  to  observe  him  sitting  by,  while  we  danced,  some- 
times in  deep  meditation,  sometimes  smiling  complacently,  some- 
times looking  upon  Hooke's  Rotnan  Hislory,'A.\\<\  sometimes  talking 
a  little,  amidst  the  noise  of  the  ball,  to  Mr.  Donald  M'Oueen,  who 
anxiously  gathered  knowledge  from  him."  The  same  accommo- 
dating hospitality  was  shown  here  as  at  Corrichatachin  in  finding 
sleeping  room  for  the  large  party  that  was  assembled.  "I  had  a 
chamber  to  myself,"  writes  Johnson,  "  which  in  eleven  rooms  to 
forty  people  was  more  than  my  share.  How  the  company  and  the 
family  were  distributed  is  not  easy  to  tell.  Macleod,  the  chieftain 
of  Dunvegan,  and  Boswell  and  I  had  all  single  chambers  on  the 
first  floor.  There  remained  eight  rooms  only  for  at  least  seven-and- 
thirty  lodgers.  I  suppose  they  put  up  temporary  beds  in  the 
dining-room,  where  they  stowed  all  the  young  ladies.  There  was 
a  room  above  stairs  with  six  beds,  in  which  they  put  ten  men." 
The  patriarchal  life  was  so  complete  that  in  this  island,  with  a  popu- 
lation estimated  at  nine  hundred,1  there  was  neither  justice  of  the 
peace  nor  constable.  Even  in  Skye  there  wo.s  but  one  magistrate, 
and,  so  late  as  forty  years  ago,  but  one  policeman.  Raasay  is  still 
without  a  justice.  The  people,  I  was  told,  settle  all  their  disputes 
among  themselves,  and  keep  clear  of  crime.  Much  of  the  land  is 
still  held  on  the  old  tribal  system.  "  I  have  ascertained,"  writes  Sir 
Henry  Maine,  "  that  the  families  which  formed  the  village  com- 
munities only  just  extinct  in  the  Western  Highlands  had  the  lands 
of  the  village  re-distributed  among  them  by  lot  at  fixed  intervals  of 
time."'  In  Raasay  there  are  little  plots  of  land  which  every  year 
are  still  distributed  by  lot.  So  small  are  they,  and  so  close  together 
that  it  often  happens  that  five  or  six  families  are  all  at  the  same 
time  getting  in  their  harvest  on  a  strip  not  much  larger  than  a 
couple  of  lawn  tennis  grounds. 

Boswell    with    three    Highland    gentlemen    spent    one    day   in 
exploring  the  island,  and  in  climbing  to  the  top  of  Dun  Can,  or 

1  This  was  Johnson's  estimate,  based  on  the  ''  Lectures  an  the  Early  History  of  InstUu- 

number  of  men  who  took  part  in  the  Rebellion       tin/is,  eel.  1875,  p.  101. 
of  1745.     The  population  in  1881  was  750. 

A  A 


i78 


SCOTTISH    DANCES. 


Raasay's  Cap,  as  sailors  called  the  mountain,  to  whom  far  away  at 
sea  it  was  a  conspicuous  landmark.  On  the  top  they  danced  a 
Highland  reel.  If  we  may  trust  the  statement  of  a  young  English 
tourist,  the  dance  was  just  as  enjoyable,  though  there  were  no 
ladies  for  partners.  "  The  Scotch,"  he  writes,  "  admire  the  reel  for 
its  own  merit  alone.  A  Scotchman  comes  into  an  assembly  room 
as  he  would  into  a  field  of  exercise,  dances  till  he  is  literally  tired, 
possibly  without  ever  looking  at  his  partner.  In  most  countries  the 
men  have  a  partiality  for  dancing  with  a  woman  :  but  here  I  have 
frequently  seen  four  gentlemen  perform  one  of  these  reels  seemingly 


with  the  same  pleasure  as  if  they  had  had  the  most  sprightly 
girl  for  a  partner.  They  give  you  the  idea  that  they  could  with 
equal  glee  cast  off  round  a  joint-stool  or  set  to  a  corner  cupboard." ' 
Beyond  Dun  Can  to  the  north-west  the  travellers  visited  the 
ruins  of  the  old  castle,  once  the  residence  of  the  lairds  of  Raasay. 
On  their  return  from  their  walk  of  four-and-twenty  miles  over  very 
rugged  ground,  "we  piqued  ourselves,"  Boswell  writes,  "at  not 
being  outdone  at  the  nightly  ball  by  our  less  active  friends,  who 
had  remained  at  home." 

Of  the  ancient  crosses  which   he  mentions  I  fear  but  one  is 

1  E.  Topham's  Litters  front  Edinburgh,  p.  264. 


AN    EARTHLY    PARADISE.  179 

remaining.  Martin,  who  looked  upon  them  as  pyramids  to  the 
deceased  ladies  of  the  family,  found  eight.  Malcolm  Macleod 
thought  that  they  were  "false  sentinels — a  common  deception  to 
make  invaders  imagine  an  island  be:ter  guarded."  The  learned 
M 'Queen  maintained  that  they  "  marked  the  boundaries  of  the 
sacred  territory  within  which  an  asylum  was  to  be  had."  In  this 
opinion  Boswell  concurred. 

Delightful  as  the  mansion  at  Raasay  seemed  to  the  travellers, 
with  "  the  rough  ocean  and  the  rocky  land,  the  beating  billows  and 
the  howling  storm  without,  while  within  was  plenty  and  elegance, 
beauty  and  gaiety,  the  song  and  the  dance,"  yet  it  had  seen  another 
sight  only  seven-and-twenty  years  earlier.  In  the  island  the  Young 
Pretender  "  in  his  distress  was  hidden  for  two  nights,  and  the 
king's  troops  burnt  the  whole  country,  and  killed  some  of  the 
cattle.  You  may  guess,"  continues  Johnson,  "  at  the  opinions  that 
prevail  in  this  country ;  they  are,  however,  content  with  fighting  for 
their  king;  they  do  not  drink  for  him.  We  had  no  foolish  healths." 
Pleased  as  our  travellers  were  with  their  four  days'  residence  here, 
in  the  midst  of  storms  and  rain,  how  much  would  their  pleasure 
have  been  increased  could  they  have  seen  it  as  I  saw  it  in  the  bright 
summer  weather !  No  one  who  visited  it  then  would  have  said 
with  Johnson  that  "  it  has  little  that  can  detain  a  traveller,  except 
the  laird  and  his  family."  It  has  almost  everything  that  Nature 
can  give  in  the  delightful  ness  of  scenery  and  situation.1  Like 
Boswell,  as  I  gazed  upon  it,  I  might  "  for  a  moment  have  doubted 
whether  unhappiness  had  any  place  in  Raasay ; "  but,  like  him,  I 
might  "soon  have  had  the  delusion  dispelled,"  by  recalling  John- 
son's lines  : 

"  Yet  hope  not  life  from  grief  or  danger  free, 
Nor  think  the  doom  of  man  reversed  for  thee." 


PoRTREE    AND    KlNGSBURGH    (SEPTEMBER     I  2- 1 3). 

Much  as  Johnson  had  delighted  in  the  patriarchal  life  at 
Raasay,  yet  after  four  days'  stay  he  became  impatient  to  move. 
"There  was,"  writes  Boswell,  "so  numerous  a  company,  mostly 
young  people,  there  was  such  a  flow  of  familiar  talk,  so  much  noise, 

1  I  am  much  indebted  to  Mr.  A.  E.  Stewart,       ever  there  was  to  see,  and  lor  his  present  o(  the 
of  Raasay,  for  his  kindness  in  showing  me  what-       photograph  of  the  old  castle. 


i8o 


THE    ROW   TO    PORTREE. 


and  so  much  singing  and  dancing,  that  little  opportunity  was  left 
for  his  energetic  conversation.  He  seemed  sensible  of  this;  for 
when  I  told  him  how  happy  they  were  at  having  him  there,  he  said, 
'  Yet  we  have  not  been  able  to  entertain  them  much.' "  The 
weather,  which  had  been  very  wet  and  stormy,  cleared  up  on  the 
morning  of  September  12.  "  Though  it  was  Sunday,"  says  John- 
son, "  we  thought  it  proper  to  snatch  the  opportunity  of  a  calm 
clay."  A  row  of  some  five  or  six  miles  brought  them  to  Portree  in 
Skye,  a  harbour  whose  name  commemorated  the  visit  of  King 
James  V.  The  busy  little  town  on  the  top  of  the  cliff,  with  its 


PORTRKF.   IIARIiOUR. 


Court  House,  hotels,  banks,  and  shops,  which  has  grown  up  at  the 
end  of  the  land-locked  harbour,  did  not  then  exist.  Sir  James 
Macdonald,  "  the  Marcellus  of  Scotland,"  as  Boswell  called  him, 
had  intended  to  build  a  village  there,  but  by  his  untimely  death  the 
design  had  come  to  nothing.  There  seems  to  have  been  little 
more  than  the  public-house  at  which  the  travellers  dined.  "  It  was," 
Johnson  believed,  "  the  only  one  of  the  island."  He  forgot,  how- 
ever, as  Boswell  pointed  out  to  him  when  he  read  his  narrative, 
another  at  Sconser,  and  a  third  at  Dunvegan.  "  These,"  Boswell 
adds,  "are  the  only  inns  properly  so  dialled.  There  are  many  huts 
where  whisky  is  sold." '  On  the  evening  which  I  spent  at  Portree, 

1  Croker's  Boswell,  p.  826. 


HIGHLAND    VOLUNTEERS. 


181 


a  company  of  Highland  volunteers  were  going  through  their  yearly 
inspection,  in  tartan  plaids  and  kilts,  with  the  bagpipes  playing  as 
only  bagpipes  can.  Had  it  been  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  their 
forefathers,  when  twelve  Highlanders  and  a  bagpipe  made  a 
rebellion,  there  was  ample  provision  made  here  for  at  least  five  or 
six.  Each  volunteer,  in  addition  to  his  guilt  as  a  rebel,  both  for 
the  arms  which  he  carried,  and  the  garb  which  he  wore,  would  have 
been  liable  to  be  sent  off  by  summary  process  to  serve  as  a  common 
soldier.  But  happily  we  live  in  loyal  days,  and  under  milder  laws. 


KINGSHURGH. 


These  bold  citizen-soldiers  ran  but  one  risk,  which  no  doubt  was 
averted  by  a  good-natured  and  sympathetic  magistracy.  To  a  fine 
of  five  shillings  for  being  drunk  and  disorderly  some  of  them  cer- 
tainly became  exposed  as  the  evening  wore  away.  Let  us  hope 
that  their  excess  was  little  more  than  an  excess  of  loyalty  in  drink- 
ing the  health  of  a  Hanoverian  queen. 

At  Portree  our  travellers  took  horse  for  Kingsburgh,  a  farm- 
house on  Loch  Snizort,  whither  they  went,  though  a  little  off  their 
road,  in  order  to  see  Flora  Macdonald.  She  had  married  a  gentle- 
man of  the  same  clan,  and  so  had  not  changed  her  name.  "  Here," 
writes  Johnson,  "  I  had  the  honour  of  saluting  the  far-famed  Miss 


r82  FLORA   MACDONALD, 

Flora  Maccloiuikl,  who  conducted  the  Prince,  dressed  as  her  maid, 
through  the  English  forces,  from  the  island  of  Lewis;  and  when 
she  came  to  Skye,  dined  with  the  English  officers,  and  left  her 
maid  below.  She  must  then  have  been  a  very  young  lady — she  is 
now  not  old-— of  a  pleasing  person  and  elegant  behaviour.  She 
told  me  that  she  thought  herself  honoured  by  my  visit;  and  I  am 
sure  that  whatever  regard  she  bestowed  on  me  was  liberally 
repaid."  Boswell  describes  her  as  "  a  little  woman  of  a  genteel 
appearance,  and  uncommonly  mild  and  well-bred.  To  see  Dr. 
Samuel  Johnson,  the  great  champion  of  the  English  Tories,  salute 
Miss  Elora  Macdonald  in  the  Isle  of  Skye  was  a  striking  sight." 
By  saltitc  I  have  little  doubt  that  both  Boswell  and  Johnson  meant 
kiss.  Johnson  in  his  Dictionary  gives  it  as  the  third  meaning  of 
the  word,  though  he  cites  no  authority  for  the  usage.  "  The 
Scotch,"  wrote  Topham  in  1774,  "have  still  the  custom  of  saluta- 
tion on  introduction  to  strangers.  It  very  seldom  happens  that  the 
salute  is  a  voluntary  one,  and  it  frequently  is  the  cause  of  disgust 
and  embarrassment  to  the  fair  sex."  '  By  the  uncouth  appearance 
ot  the  man  who  thus  saluted  her,  Elora  Macdonald  might  with 
good  reason  have  been  astonished,  for  "the  news  had  reached  her 
that  Mr.  Boswell  was  coming  to  Skye,  and  one  Mr.  Johnson,  a 
young  English  buck,  with  him."  Her  husband,  "a  large  stately 
man,  with  a  steady,  sensible  countenance,"  who  was  going  to  try 
his  fortune  in  America,  was  perhaps  for  that  reason  the  more  care- 
less of  obeying  the  laws  of  the  country  he  was  leaving.  This 
evening  he  wore  the  Highland  costume.  "  He  had  his  tartan  plaid 
thrown  about  him,  a  large  blue  bonnet  with  a  knot  of  black  riband 
like  a  cockade,  a  brown  short  coat  of  a  kind  of  duffil,  a  tartan  waist- 
coat with  gold  buttons  and  gold  button-holes,  a  bluish  philibeg,  and 
tartan  hose."  The  bed-curtains  of  the  room  in  which  our  travellers 
slept  were  also  of  tartan.  Johnson's  bed  had  whatever  fame  could 
attach  to  it  through  its  having  been  occupied  for  one  night  "by  the 
grandson  of  the  unfortunate  King  James  the  Second,"  to  borrow 
Boswell's  description  of  him.  The'  grandson,  before  many  years 
passed  over  his  head,  proved  not  unworthy  of  the  grandfather — 
equally  mean  and  equally  selfish.  'The  happy  failure  of  the  rebels 
hindered  him  from  displaying  his  vices,  with  a  kingdom  for  his 
stage.  His  worthlessness,  which  though  it  might  have  been  sus- 
pected from  his  stock,  could  not  have  been  known  in  his  youth, 

1  Letters Jroin  Edinburgh)  pp.  33,  37. 


KINGSBURGH.  183 

takes  away  nothing,  however,  from  the  just  lame  of  Flora  Mac- 
donalcl,  "  whose  name  will  he  mentioned  in  history,  and,  if  courage 
and  fidelity  he  virtues,  mentioned  with  honour."  Johnson,  after 
recounting  how  "  the  sheets  which  the  Prince  used  were  never  put 
to  any  meaner  offices,  hut  were  wrapped  up  hy  the  lady  of  the 
house,  and  at  last,  according  to  her  desire,  were  laid  round  her  in 
her  grave,"  ends  the  passage  with  much  satisfaction,  hy  observing  : 
"  These  are  not  Whigs."  Upon  the  tahle  in  the  room  he  left  a 
piece  of  paper  "  on  which  he  had  written  with  his  pencil  these 
words:  Quantum  ccdat  "virtutibits  anruin."  He  was  thinking,  no 
doubt,  of  the  reward  of  ^30,000  set  upon  Charles  Edward's  head, 
and  of  the  fidelity  of  the  poor  Highlanders  who  one  and  all  refused, 
to  hetray  him.  To  more  than  fifty  people  he  was  forced  in  his 
wanderings  to  trust  his  life,  many  of  them  "  in  the  lowest  paths  of 
fortune,"  and  not  one  of  them  proved  faithless.  It  was  well  for 
him  that  he  had  not  had  to  trust  to  fifty  hangers-on  of  a  Court. 

The  old  house  in  which  he  had  taken  shelter  for  one  night,  and 
where  Boswell  and  Johnson  were  so  hospitably  received,  where 
they  heard  from  their  hostess  the  strange  story  of  her  adventures — 
this  interesting  old  house  no  longer  exists.  Some  of  the  trees 
which  surround  the  modern  residence  must  he  old  enough  to  have 
seen  not  only  our  two  travellers,  but  also  the  fugitive  Prince.  As 
we  looked  upon  it  from  the  opposite  shore  of  the  narrow  loch  it 
seemed  a  pleasant  spot,  nearly  facing  the  west,  sheltered  from  the 
east  by  hills,  and  embosomed  in  trees,  with  meadows  in  front 
sloping  down  to  the  sea.  In  the  rear  rose  barren  dreary  hills,  but 
all  their  lower  slopes  were  green  with  grass  and  with  the  young 
crops  of  oats.  Far  down  the  loch  the  green  slopes  ended  in  a 
steep  rocky  coast.  In  the  distance  the  mountains  of  Lewis  fringed 
the  northern  sky.  The  steep  headland  on  which  we  sat  was 
beautiful  with  grasses  and  flowers  and  ferns  and  heather.  Of  wild 
flowers  we  gathered  no  less  than  thirty-six  varieties  on  this  one 
small  spot.  We  found  even  a  lingering  primrose,  though  June  was 
rapidly  drawing  to  its  close.  How  different  were  our  thoughts  as 
we  watched  this  peaceful  scene  from  those  which,  one  hundred  and 
forty-three  years  earlier,  had  troubled  the  watchers  as  the  young 
Wanderer  slept !  As  the  morning  wore  on,  and  he  did  not  awake, 
one  of  them,  in  her  alarm  lest  the  soldiers  should  surprise  him, 
roused  her  father,  who  was  also  in  hiding,  and  begged  that  "  they 

1   "  With  virtue  weighed  what  worthless  trash  is  gold." 


184 


KINGSBURGH    TO    OUN VEGAN. 


should  not  remain  here  too  long.  He  said,  '  Let  the  poor  man 
repose  himself  after  his  fatigues  !  and  as  for  me,  I  care  not,  though 
they  take  off  this  old  grey  head  ten  or  eleven  years  sooner  than  I 
should  die  in  the  course  of  nature.'  lie  then  wrapped  himself  in 
the  bed-clothes,  and  again  fell  fast  asleep."  That  same  afternoon  the 
two  fugitives  set  off  for  Portree,  where  the  Prince  took  boat  for 
Kaasay. 


DUNVKGAN  CASTLE  (SEPTEMBER  13-21). 

Had  our  travellers  ridden  the  whole  distance  from  Kingsburgh 
to   Dunvegan   they  would  have  travelled  a  weary  way  in  rounding 


THE    FEKRY   TO    KINCSUURC.il. 


Lochs  Snizort  and  Grishinish.  But  they  sent  their  horses  by  land 
to  a  point  on  the  other  shore  of  the  further  loch,  and  crossed  over 
themselves  in  Macdonald  of  Kingsburgh's  boat.  "  When,"  said 
Johnson,  "we  take  into  computation* what  we  have  saved  and  what 
we  have  gained  by  this  agreeable  sail,  it  is  a  great  deal."  They  had 
still  some  miles  of  dreary  riding  through  the  most  melancholy  of 
moorlands.  There  were  no  roads  or  even  paths.  "  A  guide," 
writes  Boswell,  "  explored  the  way,  much  in  the  same  manner  as,  I 
suppose,  is  pursued  in  the  wilcls  of  America,  by  observing  certain 
marks  known  only  to  the  inhabitants."  In  some  places  the  ground 


w 
_J 

(—  ' 
CO 
< 

o 


O 


DUNVEGAN    CASTLK.  185 

was  so  boggy  that  it  would  not  bear  the  weight  of  horse  and  rider, 
and  they  were  forced  to  dismount  and  walk.  It  was  late  in  the 
afternoon  when  they  reached  Uunvegan  Castle— that  hospitable 
home  where  Johnson  "  tasted  lotus,  and  was  in  danger,"  as  he  said, 
"of  forgetting  that  he  was  ever  to  depart."  This  ancient  seat  of 
the  Macleods  was  less  beautiful,  but  far  more  interesting  as  he  saw 
it  than  it  is  at  the  present  clay.  The  barrenness  of  nature  has  been 
covered  with  a  luxuriant  growth,  and  the  land  all  around  "  which 
presented  nothing  but  wild,  moorish,  hilly,  and  craggy  appear- 
ances," is  now  finely  wooded.  But  while  the  setting  is  so  greatly 
improved,  the  ancient  building  which  is  enshrined  has  suffered 
beneath  the  hand  of  a  restorer.  It  is  true  that  some  great  improve- 
ments have  been  made.  The  wing  which  had  so  long  been  left 
unfinished,  through  a  superstitious  fear  that  the  owner  would  not 
long  outlive  the  completion — "  this  skeleton  of  a  castle,"  as  Johnson 
describes  it — has  been  completed.  A  fine  approach  has  been 
formed  from  the  side  of  the  land.  But  in  the  alterations  which 
were  made  about  fifty  years  ago  an  architect  was  employed  who 
must  surely  have  acquired  his  mischievous  art  in  erecting  sham 
fortresses  on  the  banks  of  the  Clyde  for  the  wealthy  traders  of 
Glasgow.  It  is  greatly  to  be  wished  that  a  judicious  earthquake 
would  bring  to  the  ground  his  pepper-box  turrets.  Nevertheless, 
in  spite  of  all  that  he  has  done — and  he  did  his  worst, — it  still 
remains  a  noble  pile,  nobly  placed.  It  is  built  on  the  rocky  shore 
of  a  small  bay,  and  well  sheltered  from  the  violence  of  the  waves  by 
an  island  which  lies  across  the  mouth,  and  by  headlands  on  both 
sides.  Through  narrow  inlets  are  seen  the  open  waters  of  Loch 
Follart,  and  beyond  them  the  everlasting  hills.  We  saw  it  on  a 
fine  summer  evening,  when  the  long  seaweeds  were  swaying  in  the 
gentle  heaving  of  the  tiny  waves.  Outside  the  bay  two  yachts 
were  furling  their  sails,  for  the  morrow  was  the  day  of  rest.  The 
sea-birds  were  hovering  and  screaming  all  around.  A  great  heron 
was  standing  on  a  rock,  with  his  white  breast  reflected  in  the  water. 
A  little  to  the  north  a  long  mast  was  lying  on  the  beach,  washed  up 
from  a  wreck  which,  black  with  seaweed,  is  discovered  at  low  tide. 
The  old  castle,  the  finely  wooded  hills,  the  rocks  covered  with 
fern  and  heath,  the  clear  reflections  in  the  sea  of  the  mountains 
across  the  loch,  the  island,  the  inlets,  the  white  sails  of  the  yachts, 
the  tranquil  beauty  of  the  summer  evening — all  moved  us  deeply. 
One  thing  only  was  wanting.  The  delightful  weather  which  the 


s> 

13    13 


i86 


RORIE    MORE'S   NURSE. 


country  had  so  long  enjoyed  had  silenced  "  Rorie  More's  Nurse." 
There  was  not  water  enough  in  it  to  have  caught  that  good  knight's 
ear;  still  less  to  have  lulled  him  to  sleep.  Johnson  had  seen  it  "in 
full  perfection."  It  was  "a  noble  cascade,"  he  said.  But  he  paid 
dearly  for  the  fineness  of  the  sight ;  for  during  the  whole  of  his  stay 
the  weather  was  dreary,  with  high  winds  and  violent  rain.  "  We 
filled  up  the  time  as  we  could,"  he  writes  ;  "  sometimes  by  talk, 
sometimes  by  reading.  I  have  never  wanted  books  in  the  Isle  of 


RORIE  MORE'S  NURSE. 

Skye."  So  comfortably  was  he  situated  that  he  could  hardly  be 
persuaded  to  move  on.  "  Here  we  settled,"  he  writes,  "and  did 
not  spoil  the  present  hour  with  thoughts  of  departure."  When  on 
Saturday  Boswell  proposed  that  they  should  leave  on  the  following 
Monday,  when  their  week  would  be  completed,  he  replied  :  "  No, 
Sir,  I  will  not  go  before  Wednesday.  I  will  have  some  more  of 
this  good." 

He  was  fortunate  in  his  hosts.  The  Laird,  a  young  man  of 
nineteen,  quickly  won  his  friendship.  He  had  been  the  pupil  at 
University  College,  Oxford,  of  George  Strahan,  who  had  been 


THE    LAIRD   OF   MACLEOD.  187 

known  to  Johnson  from  his  childhood.  Boswell  describes  Macleod 
as  "a  most  promising  youth,  who  with  a  noble  spirit  struggles  with 
difficulties,  and  endeavours  to  preserve  his  people.  He  has  been 
left  with  an  incumbrance  of  forty  thousand  pounds  debt,  and 
annuities  to  the  amount  of  thirteen  hundred  pounds  a  year.  Dr. 
Johnson  said,  '  If  he  gets  the  better  of  all  this,  he'll  be  a  hero ;  and 
I  hope  he  will.  I  have  not  met  with  a  young  man  who  had  more 
desire  to  learn,  or  who  has  learnt  more.  I  have  seen  nobody  that 
I  wish  more  to  do  a  kindness  to  than  Macleod."  According  to 
Knox,  who  was  an  impartial  witness,  he  was  an  excellent  landlord. 
Distressed  though  he  was  by  this  heavy  burthen  of  debt,  "  he 
raised  no  rents,  turned  out  no  tenants,  used  no  man  with  severity, 
and  in  all  respects,  and  under  the  most  pressing  exigences,  main- 
tained the  character  of  a  liberal  and  humane  friend  of  mankind." ' 
He  formed  at  one  time  the  design  of  writing  his  own  Life. 
Unhappily- he  left  but  a  fragment.  His  father  had  died  early,  so 
that  on  the  death  of  his  grandfather,  the  year  before  Johnson's 
visit,  he  had  succeeded  to  the  property — the  estates  in  Skye,  the 
nine  inhabited  isles  and  the  islands  uninhabited  almost  beyond 
number.  "  He  did  not  know  to  within  twenty  square  miles  the 
extent  of  his  territories  in  Skye."  But  vast  as  these  domains 
were,  the  revenue  which  they  produced  was  but  small.  One  estate 
of  eighty  thousand  acres  was  only  rented  at  six  hundred  pounds 
a  year. 

"  His  grandfather,"  he  writes,  "  had  entered  upon  his  inheritance  in  the  most 
prosperous  condition  ;  but  the  course  of  his  life  was  expensive,  his  temper  convivial 
and  hospitable,  and  he  continued  to  impair  his  fortune  till  his  death.  He  was  the 
first  of  our  family  who  was  led  to  leave  the  patriarchal  government  of  the  clan,  and 
to  mix  in  the  pursuits  and  ambition  of  the  world.  He  had  always  been  a  most 
beneficent  chieftain,  but  in  the  beginning  of  1772,  his  necessities  having  lately  in- 
duced him  to  raise  his  rents,  he  became  much  alarmed  by  the  new  spirit  which  had 
reached  his  clan.  Aged  and  infirm  he  was  unable  to  apply  the  remedy  in  person  ; 
he  devolved  the  task  on  me,  and  gave  me  for  an  assistant  our  nearest  male  relation, 
Colonel  Macleod,  of  Talisker.  The  estate  was  loaded  with  debt,  encumbered  with 
a  numerous  issue  from  himself  and  my  father,  and  charged  with  some  jointures. 
His  tenants  had  lost  in  that  severe  winter  above  a  third  of  their  cattle.2  My  friend 
and  I  were  empowered  to  grant  such  deductions  in  the  rents  as  might  seem  reason- 
able;  but  we  found  it  terrible  to  decide  between  the  justice  to  creditors,  the  neces- 
sities of  an  ancient  family,  and  the  distresses  of  an  impoverished  tenantry.  I  called 

1  Knox's  Tour  through  the  Highlands,  p.  142.       covered.     The  snow  lay  long  upon  the  ground, 

2  "  In  the  year  seventy-one  they  had  a  severe       a   calamity   hardly   known  before."    Johnson's 
season  remembered  by  the  name  of  the  Black        Works,  ix.  74. 

Spring,  from  which  the  island  has  not  yet  re- 


1 88  THE    LAIRD    OK    MACLEOD. 

X 

the  people  together ;  I  laid  before  them  the  situation  of  our  family  ;  I  acknowledged 
the  hardships  under  which  they  laboured  ;  I  reminded  them  of  the  manner  in 
which  their  ancestors  had  lived  with  mine  ;  I  combated  their  passion  for  America; 
I  promised  to  live  among  them  ;  I  desired  every  district  to  point  out  some  of  their 
most  respected  men  to  settle  with  me  every  claim,  and  I  promised  to  do  everything 
for  their  relief  which  in  reason  I  could.  Our  labour  was  not  in  vain.  We  gave  con- 
siderable abatements  in  the  rents;  few  emigrated;  and  the  clan  conceived  the  most 
lively  attachment  to  me,  which  they  most  effectually  manifested. 

"  I  remained  at  home  till  the  end  of  1774,  but  I  consider  this  as  the  most  gloomy 
period  of  my  life.  Educated  in  a  liberal  manner,  fired  with  ambition,  fond  of 
society,  I  found  myself  in  confinement  in  a  remote  corner  of  the  world;  without 
any  hope  of  extinguishing  the  debts  of  my  family,  or  of  ever  emerging  from  poverty 
and  obscurity.  I  had  also  the  torment  of  seeing  my  mother  and  sisters  immured 
with  me. 

"In  1774  [1773]  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson,  with  his  companion,  Mr.  Boswell,  visited 
our  dreary  regions ;  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  be  enabled  to  practise  the  virtue  of 
hospitality  on  this  occasion.  The  learned  traveller  spent  a  fortnight  at  Dunvegan  ; 
and  indeed  amply  repaid  our  cares  to  please  him  by  the  most  instructive  and 
entertaining  conversation.  I  procured  for  him  the  company  of  the  most  learned 
clergymen  and  sagacious  inhabitants  of  the  islands."  ' 

Macleod's  high  praise  of  Johnson  is  in  curious  contradiction  to 
Sir  Walter  Scott's  account,  that  "  when  winter-bound  at  Dunvegan, 
Johnson's  temper  became  most  execrable,  and  beyond  all  endurance 
save  that  of  his  guide  (Boswell). ":  Mr.  Croker,  on  receiving  this 
account  from  Sir  Walter,  applied  to  the  Laird's  son  and  successor, 
"who  assured  him  emphatically  they  were  all  delighted  with  him."! 
Nevertheless,  as  I  have  already  stated/  the  young  ladies  of  the 
family  do  not  seem  to  have  shared  in  this  delight.  The  true 
Johnsonian  must  look  upon  them  as  "  a  set  of  wretched  un-idca'd 
girls,"  and  so  forgive  their  want  of  taste. 

Macleod,  two  or  three  years  after  our  traveller's  visit,  raised  a 
company  of  his  own  Highlanders,  and  entered  the  army.  In  the 
war  against  our  colonists  in  America  he  and  his  wife,  who  had 
accompanied  him,  were  taken  prisoners.  In  their  captivity  they 
made  the  acquaintance  and  won  the  friendship  of  George  Wrash- 
ington.  Let  us  hope  that  the  heart  of  the  founder  of  the  great 
American  Commonwealth  was  softened  towards  the  author  of 
Taxation  no  Tyranny  by  the  anecdotes  which  he  heard  of  him 
from  his  warm  friend,  the  young  Scottish  chief.  On  his  return 
home  he  raised  the  second  battalion  of  the  forty-second  Highlanders, 
and  served  with  distinction  in  India  as  their  colonel.  Zoffany 
painted  him  in  his  soldier's  dress,  surrounded  with  elephants, 

1  Croker's  Boswell,  cd.  1835,  iv.  322-9.  3  Crokcr's  Boswell,  p.  334. 

2  Croker  Correspondence,  ii.  33.  4  Ante,  p.  3. 


LADY   MACLEOD.  189 

camels,  and  Hindoos,  with  Highland  scenery  in  the  background. 
Just  before  he  started  for  the  East  he  dined  at  the  house  of  one  of 
his  tacksmen,  or  chief  tenants,  "  who  said  that  all  the  dishes  should 
be  the  produce  of  Macleod's  estate  and  the  shores  thereof. 
Amongst  a  profusion  of  other  dishes  there  were  thirteen  different 
kinds  of  fish."  '  He  died  in  1802  at  the  early  age  of  forty-six. 

Fortunate  as  Johnson  was  in  having  this  amiable  and  high- 
spirited  youth  for  his  host,  scarcely  less  fortunate  was  he  in  his 
hostess,  the  Laird's  mother,  Lady  Macleod.  The  title  which  she 
bore  was  one  of  courtesy.  Up  to  this  time  the  wives  of  Highland 
lairds,  and  also  of  Scotch  judges,  seem  commonly  to  have  been 
addressed  as  Lady.  Johnson's  hostess  at  Lochbuie,  the  wife  of  the 
laird,  is  called  Lady  Lochbuie  by  Boswell.  The  change  to  the 
modern  usage  had,  however,  begun  ;  for  Ramsay  of  Ochtertyre, 
speaking  of  the  year  1 769,  says  that,  "Somebody  asked  Lord  Auchin- 
leck  before  his  second  marriage  if  the  lady  was  to  be  called  Mrs. 
Boswell,  according  to  the  modern  fashion."  "  Johnson  was  not  wholly 
a  stranger  to  his  hostess.  "  I  had  once,"  he  writes,  "  attracted  her 
notice  in  London."  She  was  able  to  render  his  stay  pleasant,  for 
from  her  long  residence  in  England,  "  she  knew  all  the  arts  of 
southern  elegance,  and  all  the  modes  of  English  economy."  In  his 
talk  she  took  great  delight,  though  when  one  day  she  heard  him 
maintain  "that  no  man  was  naturally  good  more  than  a  wolf,  and  no 
woman  either,"  she  said  in  a  low  voice,  '  This  is  worse  than 
Swift.'"  Knox,  who  visited  Dunvegan  in  1786  records  the 
following  anecdote  :— 

"  Lady  Macleod,  who  had  repeatedly  helped  Dr.  Johnson  to  sixteen  dishes  or 
upwards  of  tea,  asked  him  if  a  small  basin  would  not  save  him  trouble,  and  be  more 
agreeable.  'I  wonder,  Madam,' answered  he  roughly,  'why  all  the  ladies  ask  me 
such  impertinent  questions.  It  is  to  save  yourselves  trouble,  Madam,  and  not  me.' 
The  lady  was  silent  and  went  on  with  her  task."'1 

It  is  not  likely  that  Knox  had  the  story  at  first  hand,  for  when 
he  visited  Dunvegan,  the  Castle  was  occupied  by  a  Major 
Alexander  Macleod,  who  had  married  a  daughter  of  Flora  Mac- 
donald.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  Lady  Macleod  was  not 
living  there  at  the  time.  The  number  of  cups  of  tea  may  have 
grown  as  the  story  passed  from  one  to  another.  We  shall  find  in 
the  next  chapter  that  at  Ulinish  Johnson  was  reported  to  have 

1  Knox's  Tour,  p.  152.  *  Scotland  and  Scotsmen  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  i.  173. 

3  Knox's  Tour,  p.  143. 


i9o  THK   OLD    ROCK. 

exceeded  even  this  feat  in  tea-drinking.  Lady  Kldon  used  to 
relate  that  one  evening  at  Oxford  she  had  helped  him  to  fifteen. 
Cumberland,  who  was  not  famed  for  accuracy,  did  not  go  beyond 
a  dozen  as  the  number  supplied  to  the  great  man  by  Mrs.  Cumber- 
land. Short  even  of  this  Johnson  might  very  well  "have  turned 
his  cup,"  as  he  had  done  at  Aberbrothick,  and  muttered,  "  claudite 
jam  rivos,  pucri. 

Lady  Macleod  was  discontented  with  the  barrenness  of  Dun- 
vegan,  and  longed  to  move  the  seat  of  the  family  to  a  spot  about 
five  miles  off,  "where  she  could  make  gardens  and  other  orna- 
ments. She  insisted  that  the  rock  was  very  inconvenient ;  that 
there  was  no  place  near  it  where  a  good  garden  could  be  made ; 
that  it  must  always  be  a  rude  place  ;  that  it  was  a  Herculean 
labour  to  make  a  dinner  here."  "  I  was  vexed,"  writes  Boswell, 
"  to  find  the  alloy  of  modern  refinement  in  a  lady  who  had  so  much 
old  family  spirit.  '  Have  all  the  comforts  and  conveniences  of  life 
upon  it,'  I  said,  'but  never  leave  Rorie  More's  cascade.'  'It  is 
very  well  for  you,'  she  replied,  '  who  have  a  fine  place,  and  every- 
thing easy,  to  talk  thus,  and  think  of  chaining  honest  folks  to  a 
rock.  You  would  not  live  upon  it  yourself.'  '  Yes,  Madam,'  said 
I,  '  I  would  live  upon  it,  were  I  Laird  of  Macleod,  and  should  be 
unhappy  if  I  were  not  upon  it.'  JOHNSON  (with  a  strong  voice  and 
most  determined  manner).  '  Madam,  rather  than  quit  the  old  rock, 
Boswell  would  live  in  the  pit  ;  he  would  make  his  bed  in  the 
dungeon.'  The  lady  was  puzzled  a  little.  She  still  returned  to 
her  pretty  farm — rich  ground — fine  garden.  '  Madam,'  said  Dr. 
Johnson,  'were  they  in  Asia,  I  would  not  leave  the  rock.'  ' 

Her  visitors  were  in  the  right.  The  scene  was  too  noble  a 
one  to  be  lightly  deserted.  There  was  no  need  to  go  five  miles 
for  trees  and  gardens.  The  reproaches  which  Johnson  cast  on  the 
Scotch  for  their  carelessness  in  adorning  their  homes  did  not  here 
fall  on  deaf  ears.  His  host  and  his  host's  son  planted  largely,  and 
the  fruit  of  his  advice  and  of  their  judicious  labours  is  seen  in  the 
beautiful  woods  and  shrubberies  which  surround  the  Castle. 
Rorie  More's  Cascade  is  almost  hidden  by  trees.  A  Dutch  garden 
has  been  formed,  where,  under  the  shelter  of  the  thick  beech  hedge 
which  encloses  it,  the  roses  bloom.  Close  to  the  ruins  of  an  ancient 
chapel,  with  glimpses  through  the  trees  of  the  waters  of  the  Loch, 
a  conservatory  has  been  built.  Had  Johnson  seen  the  beautiful  and 
rare  flowers  which  grow  in  it,  he  would  surely  never  have  main- 


DR.    JOHNSON'S    PLANTATIONS.  191 

tained  that  " a  green-house  is  a  childish  thing."     What  a  change 

o  o  o 

has  come  since  the  clay  when  he  wrote  that  "  the  country  about 
Dunvegan  is  rough  and  barren.  There  are  no  trees  except  in  the 
orchard,  which  is  a  low,  sheltered  spot,  surrounded  with  a  wall." 
The  rough  old  fellow  passed  over  the  land  with  his  strong  common 
sense  and  his  vigorous  reproofs,  and  the  rudeness  of  nature  has 
been  tamed,  and  its  barrenness  changed  into  luxuriance.  He  de- 
served better  of  mankind  even  than  he  "  who  made  two  ears  of 
corn,  or  two  blades  of  grass,  to  grow  upon  a  spot  of  ground  where 
only  one  grew  before  ; "  '  for  he  made  trees  and  flowers  to  grow 
where  before  there  had  been  none.  He  did  that  which  a  king  of 
Scotland  had  tried  to  do  and  failed.  James  the  Fifth's  command 
that  round  every  house  plantations  should  be  made  had  resulted,  I 
was  told,  in  the  few  trees  which  Johnson  saw.  But  where  the 
king's  could  be  almost  counted  on  the  fingers  of  the  two  hands, 
Johnson's  cover  whole  hill-sides.  I  was  informed  by  Miss  Macleod, 
of  Macleod,  for  whose  kindness  I  am  most  grateful,  that  she  had 
no  doubt  that  it  was  his  reproaches  which  stirred  up  her  grand- 
father to  plant  so  widely.  How  luxuriantly  nature  can  deck  the 
ground  when  she  is  aided  by  art,  was  seen  in  the  strange  variety  of 
flowers  which  we  noticed  in  the  grounds.  Two  seasons  seemed  to 
be  mingled  into  one,  for  we  found  at  the  same  time  wild  roses,  the 
hawthorn,  blue  bells,  cuckoo  flowers,  heather,  lupins,  laburnums, 
and  rhododendrons. 

In  ancient  days  the  only  access  to  the  castle,  says  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  was  "  from  the  sea  by  a  subterranean  staircase,  partly  arched, 
partly  cut  in  the  rock,  which  winding  up  through  the  cliff  opened 
into  the  court."  :  These  steps  Johnson  oddly  describes  as  "  a  pair 
of  stairs,"  just  as  if  they  were  in  an  Oxford  college  or  the  Temple. 
When  the  tide  was  up  access  was  cut  off,  so  that  a  visitor  who  had 
arrived  by  land  must  at  the  very  end  of  his  journey  have  taken  boat 
in  order  to  gain  the  entrance.  A  little  above  the  lower  gate,  on 
the  side  of  the  passage,  there  was  an  old  well,  with  uncovered 
mouth.  At  the  christening  of  the  present  laird,  one  of  the  guests 
who  had  drunk  too  freely,  going  down  the  steps  to  his  boat,  fell  in 
and  was  drowned.  The  well  was  at  once  enclosed,  and  has  never 
been  used  since.  Even  in  Johnson's  time  its  water,  though  not 
brackish  in  spite  of  its  being  so  near  to  the  sea,  was  not  much  used. 
The  stream  which  formed  Rorie  More's  Cascade  was  thought  to 

1  Swift's  Voyage  to  Brobdingnag,  chap.  vii.  a  Croker's  Sosuiell,  p.  340. 


THE    STATELY    DINING-ROOM. 


afford  a  purer  supply.  It  was  nut  by  this  staircase  that  our 
travellers  entered  the  castle,  but  by  a  long  (light  of  steps  which  the 
last  laircl  had  made  on  the  side  of  the  land.  They  were  not  guarded 
by  hand-rails.  Many  years  ago  a  milkmaid  coining  up  them  with  her 
pails  on  a  stormy  day,  was  carried  over  by  a  high  wind,  and  much 
hurt.  They  have  given  place  to  the  present  approach  by  a  carriage- 
road  carried  over  the  chasm  which  cut  off  the  castle  from  the  neigh- 
bouring land. 

/  On  the  walls  of  the  "  stately  dining-room  "  where  our  travellers 

were  first  received, 
I  saw  hanging 
some  fine  portraits 
by  Raeburn,  their 
host  and  his  wife 
and  their  eldest 
son,  a  lad  with  a 
sweet  honest  face, 
who  was  lost  with 
his  ship,  the  Royal 
Charlotte,  in  the 

Bay  of  Naples.  Near  them  hang 
"  the  wicked  lairtl "  and  his  two 
wives.  There  is  a  tradition  that  his 
first  wife  had  fled  from  him  on  ac- 
count of  his  cruelty,  but  had  been 
enticed  back  by  a  friendly  letter. 
When  her  husband  had  caught  her, 
he  starved  her  to  death  in  the  dun- 
geon. It  was  no  doubt  the  sight 
of  these  pictures  which  one  day  at 
table  led  the  company  to  talk  of 

portraits;  when  Johnson  maintained  that  "their  chief  excellence  is 
being  like.  One  would  like,"  he  added,  "  to  see  how  Rorie  More 
looked.  Truth,  Sir,  is  of  the  greatest  value  in  these  things." 

In  the  same  room  stands  a  handsome  old  sideboard,  bearing 
the  date  of  1603.  Though  it  goes  back  to  the  year  of  the  union  of 
the  two  Crowns,  yet  of  all  the  festive  gatherings  which  it  has 
witnessed,  perhaps  there  is  none  that  was  more  striking  than  that 
evening  when  the  Highland  gentlemen  listened  to  Johnson's  "full 
strain  of  eloquence.  We  were,"  writes  Boswell,  "  a  jovial  company 


be* 


WATERGATE. 


SIR   WALTER   SCOTT   AT    DUNVEGAN.  193 

at  supper.  The  laird,  surrounded  by  so  many  of  his  clan,  was  to 
me  a  pleasing  sight.  They  listened  with  wonder  and  pleasure 
while  Dr.  Johnson  harangued."  It  was  very  likely  in  this  same 
room  that  Sir  Walter  Scott  breakfasted  that  August  morning  forty- 
one  years  later,  "when  he  woke  under  the  castle  of  Dunvegan.  I 
had,"  he  writes,  "  sent  a  card  to  the  laird  of  Macleod,  who  came  off 
before  we  were  dressed,  and  carried  us  to  his  castle  to  breakfast."  ' 


DINING    ROOM,    DUNVEGAN    CASTLE. 


/  The  noble  drawing-room,  with  the  deep  recesses  for  the  win- 
dows in  walls  nine  feet  thick,  is  not  the  one  described  by  Boswell. 
The  drawing-room  which  he  saw  "  had  formerly  been,"  he  says,  "  the 
bed-chamber  of  Sir  Roderick  Macleod,  and  he  chose  it  because 
behind  it  there  was  a  cascade,  the  sound  of  which  disposed  him  to 
sleep."  At  the  time  of  Sir  Walter  Scott's  visit  it  had  again  become  a 
bed-room,  for  here  he  slept  on  a  stormy  night.  He  had  accepted, 
he  says,  "  the  courteous  offer  of  the  haunted  apartment,"  and  this 

1  Lockhai  t's  Scott,  iv.  302. 
C    C 


194 


THE    HAUNTED   ROOM. 


was  the  room  which  was  given  him.  "An  autumnal  blast,  some- 
times clear,  sometimes  driving  mist  before  it,  swept  along  the 
troubled  billows  of  the  lake,  which  it  occasionally  concealed  and  by 
fits  disclosed.  The  waves  rushed  in  wild  disorder  on  the  shore, 
and  covered  with  foam  the  steep  pile  of  rocks,  which  rising  from 
the  sea  in  forms  something  resembling  the  human  figure  have 
obtained  the  name  of  Macleod's  Maidens.  The  voice  of  an  angry 


PORTRAIT  OK  SARAH,  LADY  MACLEOD,  ]!Y  RAKHURN. 

cascade,  termed  the  nurse  of  Rorie  More,  was  heard  from  time  to 
time  mingling  its  notes  with  those  of  wind  and  wave.  Such  was 
the  haunted  room  at  Dunvegan  ;  and  as  such  it  well  deserved  a  less 
sleepy  inhabitant."  This  account  Sir  Walter  wrote  many  years 
later  from  memory.  The  rocks  which  he  saw  were  not  Macleod's 
Maidens  ;  from  them  he  was  separated  by  nearly  ten  miles  of 
mountains  and  lochs. 

In  the  present  drawing-room  a  small  portrait  of  Johnson,  as- 

1   Lockhart's  Scott,  iv.  305. 


DUNVEGAN'S   THREE   TREASURES. 


'95 


cribed  to  Reynolds,  but,  as  I  was  told,  by  Zoffany,  lianas  in  a  place 
of  honour.  Here,  too,  is  kept  his  letter  of  thanks  to  Macleod, 
endorsed  "  Dr.  Johnston's."  He  wrote  it  "  on  the  margin  of  the 
sea,  waiting  for  a  boat  and  a  wind.  Hoswell,"  he  continues  "grows 
impatient  ;  but  the  kind  treatment  which  I  find  wherever  I  go 
makes  me  leave  with  some  heaviness  of  heart  an  island  which  I  am 
not  very  likely  to  see  again."  Among  other  treasures  in  the  same 
room  is  Rorie  More's  horn,  "  a  large  cow's  horn,  with  the  mouth  of 
it  ornamented  with  silver  curiously  carved.  It  holds  rather  more 
than  a  bottle  and  a  half.  Every  laird  of  Macleod,  it  is  said,  must, 
as  a  proof  of  his  manhood,  drink  it  off  full  of  claret  without  laying 
it  down."  '  It  is  curious  that  Boswell  makes  no  mention  of  the 


HORN. 


ancient  cup  described  by  Scott  in  a  note  to  the  second  canto  of 
The  Lord  of  the  Isles,  or  of  the  fairy  flag.  "  Here,"  writes  Pen- 
nant, "  is  preserved  the  Braolauch  shi,  or  fairy-flag  of  the  family, 
bestowed  on  it  by  the  queen  of  the  fairies.  She  blessed  it  with 
powers  of  the  first  importance,  which  were  to  be  exerted  on  only 
three  occasions  ;  on  the  last,  after  the  end  was  obtained,  an  invisible 
being  is  to  carry  off  standard  and  standard-bearer,  never  more  to  be 
seen.  The  flag  has  been  produced  thrice.  The  first  time  in  an 
engagement  against  the  Clan-Ronald,  to  whose  sight  the  Macleods 
were  multiplied  ten-fold ;  the  second  preserved  the  heir,  being 
then  produced  to  save  the  longings  of  the  lady  ;  and  the  third 
time  to  save  my  own ;  but  it  was  so  tattered,  that  Titania 
did  not  seem  to  think  it  worth  sending  for.  This  was  a  super- 


196 


ROR1E    MORE'S   CLAYMORE. 


stition  derived  from  the  Norwegian  ancestry  of  the  house."  Sir 
Walter  describes  it  as  "  a  pennon  of  silk,  with  something  like 
round  red  rowan-berries  wrought  upon  it."  In  the  gallery  I  saw 
Rorie  M ore's  claymore,  "of  a  prodigious  size,"  as  Boswell  called 
it.  He  wrote  this  some  years  before  he  heard  from  old  Mr 
Edwards  that  Johnson,  when  an  undergraduate  of  Oxford,  "  would 
not  let  them  say  prodigious  at  college,  for  even  then  he  was  deli- 


cate in  language. 


If  it  is  not  prodigious,  nevertheless  it  is  a  real 
claymore  or  great  sword,  for  that  is  what  the  Gaelic  word  means. 
Unfortunately  the  point  is  broken  off.  The  sight  of  it  did  not 
console  me  for  my  disappointment  at  finding  that  Rorie  More's  bed 
is  no  longer  in  existence,  with  the  inscription  above  it,  "  Sir  Roderick 
M'Leod  of  Dunvegan,  Knight.  God  send  good  rest."  I  would 
rather  have  seen  it  than  a  dozen  swords,  whether  great  or  small. 

Johnson  slept  in  the  Fairy  Bedroom  in  the  Fairy  Tower.     The 
legend  runs  that  this  part  of  the  castle  was  built  450  years  ago  by 


Pennant's  Voyage  to  Hie  Hebrides,  1774,11.  295. 


'2  Lockhart's  Life  of  Scott,  iv.  304. 


THE    FAIRY    BEDROOM. 


'07 


that  very  uncommon  being,  a  fairy  grandmother.  Godmothers 
among  the  fairies  have  often  been  heard  of,  but  grandmothers,  we 
believe,  never  before  or  since.  Had  Puck  peeped  in  and  seen 
/Johnson  wearing  his  wig  turned  inside  out  and  the  wrong  end  in 
front  as  a  substitute  for  a  night-cap,1  he  might  well  have  exclaimed 
that  his  mistress  kept  a  monster,  not  only  near  but  in  "  her  close 
and  consecrated  bower."  From  this  room  a  winding  stone  stair- 
case led  up  to  the  battlements,  but  without  mounting  so  high  John- 
son commanded  a  fine  view.  From  his  window  he  could  see,  far 


MACI.KOD  S    TAEI.ES. 


away  across  the  lochs,  Macleod's  Tables,  two  lofty  hills  with  round 
flat  tops,  which  on  all  sides  form  a  striking  landmark.  Much 
nearer  was  the  Gallows  Hill,  where  in  the  bad  old  times  many  a 
poor  wretch,  dragged  from  his  dark  and  dismal  dungeon,  caught 
his  last  sight  of  loch  and  mountain  and  heath,  doomed  to  death  by 
the  laird.  Only  thirty-three  years  before  our  travellers'  visit  a  man 
was  hanged  there  by  the  grandfather  of  their  host.  He  was  a 
Macdonakl  who  had  murdered  his  father,  and  escaped  into  Mac- 
leod's country.  But  the  old  tribal  feuds  were  long  since  over,  and 

1  See  ante,  p.  3. 


198  DUNGEONS   AND    1'IT. 

he  found  no  safety  there.      At  Macdonald's  request  lie  was  at  once 
seized  and  hanged.1 

The  dungeons  and  the  pit  an:  not  described  by  either  Boswell 
or  Johnson,  though  the  sight  of  them,  we  would  willingly  believe, 
must  have  roused  their  indignation.  In  these  old  castles  there  are. 
few  things  more  shocking  than  the  close  neighbourhood  of  festivity. 
and  misery.  It  shows  a  callousness  to  human  suffering  which 
almost  passes  belief.  If  a  prisoner  is  in  a  remote  part  of  a  great 
castle,  the  imagination  then  must  come  into  play  to  bring  his 
sufferings  before  the  mind  ;  but  when  he  is  close  at  hand,  when 
his  sorrowful  sighing  is  only  kept  by  the  thickness  of  a  single  wall 
from  mingling  with  the  prattle  of  children  and  the  merriment  of 
feasters,  then  the  heart  must  be  hard  indeed  which  is  not  touched. 
At  Dunvegan  a  door  to  the  left  opened  into  a  pleasant  sitting-room, 
and  to  the  right  into  the  chief  dungeon.  In  it  there  was  no  window, 
not  even  one  of  those  narrow  slits  by  which  a  few  rays  can  struggle 
in.  Hut  there  was  something  worse  even  than  the  dungeon.  In 
the  floor  there  was  an  opening  by  which  the  unhappy  prisoner 
could  be  lowered  into  a  deep  pit.  Here  he  would  dwell  in  ever- 
during  dark,  never  cheered  by  the  hurried  glimpse  of  daylight  such 
as  broke  the  long  night  in  the  prison  above  whenever  the  jailer 
paid  his  visit.  The  door  of  the  other  dungeon  —  for  there  was  yet 
another  —  is  in  the  wall  of  a  bedroom,  which  is  furnished  in  so  old 
a  style  that  it  is  likely  enough  that  the  curious  bed  and  hangings 
were  gazed  at  by  many  a  prisoner  as  he  was  hurried  by. 

As  we  wandered  through  these  old  rooms  and  staircases  and 
passages,  we  were  told  of  a  poor  woman  from  St.  Kilda,  who  like 
ourselves  was  shown  over  the  castle.  As  she  went  on  she  became 
so  bewildered  by  the  number  of  the  rooms,  that  she  begged  to  be 
allowed  to  keep  fast  hold  of  the  hand  of  the  person  who  was  con- 
ducting her,  for  fear  she  might  get  lost  and  never  find  her  way  out. 
The  story  called  to  my  mind  a  man  from  the  same  remote  island 
mentioned  by  Martin.  He  was  taken  to  Glasgow,  and  though  in 
those  days  it  was  but  a  small  town,  nevertheless  he  was  so  much 
scared  that  in  like  manner  he  clung  to  his  guide's  hand  as  long  as 
he  was  in  the  streets.-'  The  poor  woman  must  have  breathed  more 
freely  when  she  at  length  reached  the  court-yard  and  looked  out 
over  the  familiar  sea.  The  platform,  then,  no  doubt  was  rough 


in  the  chapter  on  Lochbuie  for  an  account  of  the  hereditary  jurisdictions. 
Martin's  Western  Islands,  p.  297. 


ISLAND    ISA. 


199 


with  stone,  but  now  it  is  soft  with  green  turf.  I  looked  there  for 
the  false  stone  cannons  which  Boswell  mentions,  but  I  learnt  that 
they  had  been  moved  to  the  top  of  one  of  the  towers.  In  their 
place  are  some  of  iron,  venerable  by  their  antiquity,  but  unfit  for 
service.  Against  one  of  the  low  walls  which  enclose  this  pleasant 
court  leans  a  piece  of  old  sculpture,  the  effigy  probably  of  some 
lady  of  the  family. 

Three  or  four  miles  down  the  loch,  and  out  of  sight  ot  the 
castle,  lies  the  little  island  of  Isa  or  Issay,  "  which  Macleod  said  he 
would  give  to  Dr.  Johnson,  on 
condition  of  his  residing  on  it 
three  months  in  the  year  ;  nay, 
one  month.  Dr.  Johnson  was 
highly  amused  with  the  fancy. 
He  talked  a  great  deal  of  this 
island ;  how  he  would  build  a 
house  there — how  he  would 
fortify  it — how  he  would  have 
cannon — how  he  would  plant- 
how  he  would  sally  out,  and 
take  the  Isle  of  Muck ;  and  then 
he  laughed  with  uncommon 
glee,  and  could  hardly  leave  off. 
Macleod  encouraged  the  fancy 
of  Dr.  Johnson's  becoming 
owner  of  an  island ;  told  him 
that  it  was  the  practice  in  that 
country  to  name  every  man  by 
his  lands,  and  begged  leave  to 
drink  to  him  in  that  mode,  '  Island  Isa,  your  health.'  Ulinish, 
Talisker,  M'Oueen,  and  I  all  joined  in  our  different  manners,  while 
Dr.  Johnson  bowed  to  each  with  much  good  humour."  To  Mrs. 
Thrale  he  wrote  :  "  Macleod  has  offered  me  an  island ;  if  it  were 
not  too  far  off  I  should  hardly  refuse  it ;  my  island  would  be 
pleasanter  than  Brighthelmstone  if  you  and  my  master  could  come 
to  it ;  but  I  cannot  think  it  pleasant  to  live  quite  alone, 

'  Oblitusquc  meorum,  obliviscendus  et  illis.'  " 
Much  as  he  wistied  to  visit  it,  he  was  hindered  even  from  seeing  it 

'   "  Your  friends  forgetting  by  your  friends  forgot." 

Francis's  Horace,  Epistles,  i.  xi.  9. 


TERRACE. 


ISI.ASU    ISA- 


by  the  stormy  weather.  \Ve  were  more  fortunate,  for  though  we 
did  not  l;in<],  yet  we  saw  it  from  the  high  ground  on  the  opposite 
shore.  'I  lie  greater  part  of  the  way  to  this  spot  a  rough  road  has 
been  made  along  which  we  drove,  passing  a  great  heronry.  It 
was  curious  to  watch  the  huge  nests  and  the  great  birds  in  the 
trees.  For  nearly  three  miles  of  country  they  were  the  chief 
inhabitants.  Island  1  *a  would  certainly  have  lived  in  great 
solitude,  for  after  we  had  passed  the  gamekeeper's  cottage  close  to 
the  castle,  we  saw  no  signs  of  habitation  except  the  herons'  nests, 
till  we  readied  a  farm-house  nearly  three  miles  off.  Here  the  road 
ended.  In  tiie  little  garden  stood  some  large  laburnum  trees,  all 
drooping  with  their  golden  flowers.  Our  way  led  across  a  wide 

heath  to  a  fine  breezy 
headland.  Below  us 
another  stretch  of 
heath-land  sloped 
down  to  the  shore  of 
the  loch.  On  the 
other  side  of  a  narrow 
channel  lay  Isa,  with 
fine  rocky  cliffs  to  the 
west  and  the  north, 
but  lying  open  to  the 
south-east.  1 1  was 
Midsummer  Day. 
The  sea  was  calm,  a 
blue  ha/.e  softened  the  outline  of  the  neighbouring  hills,  but  let  the 
mountains  in  the  farther  Hebrides  be  but  faintly  seen.  The  little 
isle  lay  before  us  with  no  signs  on  it  of  human  habitation.  Buchanan 
describes  it  as  "  fertilis  frugum," '  and  Martin  says  that  it  was 
"  fruitful  in  corn  ; "  a  but  it  must  be  many  a  year  since  the  plough 
turned  up  its  soil.  It  is  a  land  of  pastures.  In  the  hot,  drowsy 
air  then:  was  nothing  but  the  song  of  the  lark  and  the  bleating 
of  the  lambs  "to  break  the  silence  of  the  seas."  Far  below  us 
a  shepherd  with  his  two  dogs  was  gathering  a  small  flock  of  sheep. 
They,  and  the  larks,  and  the  sea-birds  were  the  only  things  that 
seemed  alive.  We  had  reached,  as  it  were,  the  antipodes  of  "  that 
full  tide  of  human  existence"  in  which  Johnson  delighted.  For 
not  a  single  day  would  he  have  endured  the  lonely  dignity  of 

1    liudmnnni  Of  era  Own/a,  c«l.  1725,  i.  40.  '•*  Martin's  Western  Islands,  p.  170. 


J 


IIEKONKY. 


s 


GATHKKING    OK    THK    CONGREGATIONS.  201 

such  a  domain.  The  road  to  the  headland  had  not  been  quite 
free  from  danger,  for  on  our  return  we  found  coiled  up  asleep  on 
the  path  half  hidden  in  the  heather  an  adder.  It  was  killed  by  a 
blow  of  a  stick  which  I  had  brought  with  me  from  Corsica. 

On  the  Sunday,  which  we  spent  at  Dunvegan,  we  chanced  to 
see  a  sight  interesting  in  itself,  but  doubly  so  to  anyone  who  came 
from  the  South.  The  Free  Kirk  congregations  of  three  parishes 
met  in  a  field  to  take  the  Sacrament.  It  was  one  of  the  three  ereat 

o 


SACRAMENT   SUNDAY. 


religious  gatherings  of  the  year,  and  the  people  Hocked  in  from  all 
the  country  side.  Many  came  by  water  from  far-off  glens  that 
sloped  down  to  the  sea.  From  the  windows  of  our  inn  we  watched 
the  heavy  boats  fully  laden  coming  round  a  distant  point,  and 
rowing  slowly  up  to  a  ledge  of  rocks  just  below  us.  In  one  we 
counted  twenty-one  people.  Women  as  well  as  men  tugged  at  the 
oars,  and  when  the  boat  was  run  aground  helped  to  drag  it  up  the 
beach.  When  this  was  done,  they  all  set  about  completing  their 
toilettes.  The  beach  served  them  for  their  tiring-house,  though 

D  u 


2o2  A    FIELD    CONVENTICLE. 

it  was  a  good  deal  more  open  to  view  than  a  hawthorn-brake.  In 
one  of  the  boats  we  had  noticed  a  man  distinguished  from  all  the 
rest  by  a  tall  black  hat,  pictate  gmvem  ac  merit  is.  To  him  had 
been  entrusted  the  clean  white  collars  and  neckties  of  the  rowers. 
Many  of  the  men  knelt  down  while  their  wives  fastened  them  on 
for  them  and  smoothed  their  hair.  One  man  even  went  so  far  as 
to  put  on  his  shirt  in  public.  The  women  too,  who  were  almost 
all  in  black,  had  their  dresses  to  arrange,  for  in  the  boats  they  had 
kept  their  skirts  tucked  up.  Some  of  the  girls  even  had  to  get 
their  bustles  adjusted.  Carlyle  or  his  wife  once  made  merry  over 
their  maid-of-all-work  at  Chelsea,  who  with  two  or  three  kitchen- 
dusters  made  the  best  substitute  she  could  for  that  monstrous  and 
most  "  considerable  protuberance."  What  would  he  have  said  had 
he  seen  the  lasses  in  Skye  thus  making  themselves  as  ridiculous  as 
even  the  finest  lady  in  town  ? 

When  at  length  every  one  was  ready,  the  whole  party  moved 
slowly  along  the  road  towards  the  church.  Others  came  driving 
up  in  light  and  heavy  carts,  while  across  the  moors  we  could  see 
single  wayfarers,  or  more  often  three  or  four  together,  coming  in 
by  different  paths.  There  was  greeting  of  old  friends  and  shaking 
of  hands.  The  church  stood  on  the  road-side,  a  plain  building 
with  the  manse  close  by.  In  it  was  gathered  that  part  of  the 
congregation  which  spoke  English.  On  the  other  side  of  the  road 
the  ground  fell  away  to  a  little  brook  which  had  eaten  its  way 
through  the  dark-coloured  peat,  and  here  made  a  sudden  bend. 
On  the  other  side  of  the  water,  within  the  bend,  there  was  a  grassy 
slope  ending  in  a  low  ridge,  and  dotted  with  little  hillocks.  Here 
the  people  sat  down  on  the  ground,  facing  an  erection  which 
looked  like  a  large  sentry-box.  It  was  occupied  by  the  minister, 
who  addressed  the  people  in  Gaelic,  speaking  in  a  kind  of  musical 
recitative  which  carried  the  voice  far,  and  must  have  made  every 
syllable  distinct.  It  often  had  a  very  pleading  and  plaintive  sound. 
Below  him  stood  two  long  rows  of  tables,  and  a  cross  table,  all 
covered  with  white  cloths.  On  the 'other  side  of  the  stream  by  the 
roadside  twenty  carts  or  more  were  standing,  while  the  horses 
were  quietly  grazing  on  the  moor  tethered  each  to  an  iron  peg. 
One  horse  nibbled  through  the  cord,  and  came  up  to  the  outskirts 
of  the  meeting,  but  a  lad  left  his  seat  and  caught  it.  In  the  back- 
ground the  dreary  moorland  sloped  upwards,  blackened  here  and 
there  with  heaps  of  peat  drying  in  the  sun  and  wind.  I  thought 


NATIONAL    COSTUMES. 


203 


how  in  the  old  days  watchers  would  have  been  posted  on  the  most 
distant  ridges  to  give  warning  of  the  approach  of  the  persecutors. 
How  many  people  were  gathered  together  I  do  not  know — cer- 
tainly many  hundreds,  perhaps  a  thousand.  All  were  decently, 
though  some  poorly  dressed.  Almost  all  had  good  warm  clothing, 
with  strong  boots  and  shoes,  none  of  them  in  holes.  Very  many 
of  the  women  had  tartan  shawls,  and  one  or  two  boys  wore  the 
kilt.  One  man  I  saw  with  tartan  stockings,  but  the  dress  of  all 
the  rest  differed  in  no  respect  from  that  worn  in  England.  In 
costumes  an  act  of  uniformity  seems  to  have  been  passed  not  only 
for  the  British  Isles,  but  also  for  Western  Europe  in  general. 


A   CROFTERS   HUT    IN    SKYE. 


Travelling  is  losing  part  of  its  interest  by  the  great  sameness  in 
clothing  everywhere  met  with.  There  will  soon,  I  fear,  be  no 
country  left  which  can  boast  of  a  national  dress.  Though  the 
meeting  was  out  of  doors,  yet  all  were  decent  and  sober  in  their 
behaviour.  There  was  no  talking  or  giggling,  no  fringe  of  rude 
lads  and  silly  girls.  Where  the  little  moorland  path  ended  that 
led  from  the  church  a  table  was  set,  on  which  stood  a  large  metal 
basin  to  receive  the  offerings.  Every  one  seemed  to  put  in  some- 
thing, even  the  poorest,  but  in  the  great  pile  of  pence  and  half- 
pence I  saw  but  one  piece  of  silver.  When  the  service  in  the 
church  was  over,  the  minister  and  people  joined  those  on  the 
moor,  for  it  was  there  that  the  Sacrament  was  taken  by  both 


204  r>R.   JOHNSON'S   CUPS  OF   TEA. 

congregations  together.  The  service  began  between  eleven  and 
twelve  o'clock.  Soon  alter  lour  we  saw  the  people  come  trooping- 
down  to  the  shore.  The  boats  were  launched,  sails  were  set,  and 
with  a  gentle  breeze  they  were  slowly  carried  down  the  loch  and 
round  the  headland  out  of  our  sight. 


UI.INISII  AND  TAI.LSKER  (SEPTEMBKR  21-25). 

On  the  morning  of  Tuesday,  September  21,  our  travellers  took 
advantage  of  a  break  in  the  stormy  weather  to  continue  their 
journey  to  Ulinish,  a  farm-house  on  Loch  Bracaclale,  occupied  by 


TALISKKR   HEM)   AND   ORONSAY. 


"  a  plain  honest  gentleman,"  the  Sheriff-substitute  of  the  island. 
Here  they  passed  the  night,  and  here,  if  we  may  trust  report, 
Johnson's  powers  as  a  drinker  of  tea  were  exerted  to  their  utmost 
pitch.  "Mrs.  Macleod  of  Ulinish,"  writes  Knox,  "has  not  for- 
gotten the  quantity  of  tea  which  she  filled  out  to  Dr.  Johnson, 
amounting  to  twenty-two  dishes."1  Surely  for  this  outrageous 
statement  some  of  those  excuses  are  needed  "  by  which,"  according 
to  Boswell,  "  the  exaggeration  of  Highland  narratives  is  palliated." 
From  an  old  tower  near  the  house  a  fine  view  was  had  of  the 
Cuillin,  or  Cuchullin  Hills,  "a  prodigious  range  of  mountains, 
capped  with  rocky  pinnacles  in  a  strange  variety  of  shapes,"  which 
with  good  reason  reminded  Boswell  of  the  mountains  he  had  seen 
near  Corte  in  Corsica. 

1  Knox's  Tour,  p.  139. 


A    GRKAT    CAVE.  205 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  following  clay  "  an  interval  of  calm 
sunshine,"  writes  Johnson,  "courted  us  out  to  see  a  cave  on  the 
shore  famous  for  its  echo.  When  we  went  into  the  boat  one  of 
our  companions  was  asked  in  Erse  by  the  boatmen  who  they  were 
that  came  with  him.  He  gave  us  characters,  I  suppose,  to  our 
advantage,  and  was  asked  in  the  spirit  of  the  Highlands  whether  I 
could  recite  a  long  series  of  ancestors.  The  boatmen  said,  as  I 
perceived  afterwards,  that  they  heard  the  cry  of  an  English  ghost. 
This,  Boswell  says,  disturbed  him.  We  came  to  the  cave,  and 
clambering  up  the  rocks  came  to  an  arch  open  at  one  end,  one 
hundred  and  eighty  feet  long,  thirty  broad  in  the  broadest  part,  and 
about  thirty  feet  high.  There  was  no  echo;  such  is  the  fidelity  of 
reports ;  but  I  saw  what  I  had  never  seen  before,  mussels  and 
whelks  in  their  natural  state.  There  was  another  arch  in  the  rock 
open  at  both  ends."  This  cave  was  not  on  the  shore  of  Skye,  as 
Johnson's  account  seems  to  imply,  but  in  the  little  island  of  Wia. 
From  Boswell  we  learn  that  it  was  to  an  island  they  were  taken. 
We  were  fortunate  enough  on  our  visit  to  this  wild  part  of  the 
coast  to  have  as  our  guide  one  of  Macleod's  gamekeepers.  "  A 
man,"  to  borrow  from  Johnson  the  praise  which  he  bestowed  on 
one  of  his  guides,  '  of  great  liveliness  and  activity,  civil  and  ready- 
handed."1  We  had  passed  the  night  in  the  lonely  little  inn  at 
Struan  on  the  shore  of  an  arm  of  Loch  Bracadale,  where  we  had 
found  decent,  if  homely,  lodging.  In  a  fisherman's  boat  we  rowed 
down  the  loch,  sometimes  in  mid-channel  and  sometimes  skirting  the 
cliffs,  which  rose  like  a  wall  of  rock  to  a  great  height  above  us.  We 
passed  little  islets,  and  the  mouths  of  caverns  which  filled  with 
clouds  of  spray  as  the  long  rolling  waves  swept  in  from  the  Atlantic. 
On  the  ledges  of  the  rocks,  hovering  over  our  heads,  swimming 
and  diving  in  the  sea,  were  cormorants,  puffins,  oyster  catchers, 
gulls,  curlews  and  guillemots.  We  had  none  of  us  looked  upon  a 
wilder  scene.  When  we  reached  our  island  we  were  pleased  to  find 
that  the  narrow  beach  at  which  we  were  to  land  was  guarded  by  a 
huge  headland  from  the  swell  of  the  sea.  Whether  we  visited  the 
cave  which  our  travellers  saw  I  do  not  feel  at  all  sure,  for  it  does 
not  correspond  with  their  description.  My  friend,  the  gamekeeper, 
was  sure  that  it  was  the  place,  and  I  was  willing  to  advance  my 
faith  more  than  half-way  to  meet  his  assertion.  We  scrambled  up 

1  For  his  services  and  for  many  other  acts  of  kindness,  I  am  indebted  to  the  Rev.  Roderick 
Macleod  of  Macleod. 


ao6  PRINCE   CHARLIE'S  CAVES. 

tin-  steep  beach,  and  then  over  rocks  covered  with  grass  and  ferns, 
between  the  sides  ol  a  narrow  gorge.  At  the  top  a  still  steeper 
path  led  downwards  to  a  cave,  at  the  bottom  of  which  we  could  see 
a  glimmer  of  light.  Scrambling  upwards  again,  we  reached  a 
place  where  we  could  hear  the  sea  murmuring  on  the  other  side. 
We  afterwards  climbed  to  the  top  of  the  cliff  and  sat  down  on  the 
ground  which  formed  the  roof  of  the  cavern.  It  was  covered  with 
heather  and  ferns,  and  patches  of  short  grass  ;  a  pleasant  breeze 
was  blowing,  the  sea  birds  were  uttering  their  cries,  far  beneath  us 
we  could  hear  the  beating  of  the  surge.  Across  the  Loch  on  both 
sides,  the  dark  cliffs  rose  to  a  great  height,  and  in  the  background 
stood  the  mountains  of  Skye  and  of  the  mainland.  Had  the  air 
been  very  clear,  we  might  have  seen  on  the  north-west  the  wooded 
hills  of  Dunvegan. 

Two  or  three  days  later,  when  I  was  giving  two  Highlanders 
an  account  of  this  cavern,  one  of  them  asked  with  a  humorous 
smile  :  "  Did  they  not  tell  you  it  was  Prince  Charlie's  Cave  ?  He 
must,'  I  am  thinking,  have  been  sleeping  everywhere."  His 
companion  laughed  and  said  :  "  They  have  lately  made  a  new  one 
near  an  hotel  which  they  have  opened  at  -  — ."  The  innkeepers 
should  surely  show  a  little  originality.  Why  should  they  not 
advertise  Dr.  Johnson's  Cave,  and  show  the  tea-pot  out  of  which 
he  drank  his  two-and-twenty  cups  of  tea  when  he  picnicked  there  ? 
They  would  do  well  also  to  discover  the  great  cave  in  Skye  which 
Martin  tells  of.  "It  is  supposed,"  he  writes,  "  to  exceed  a  mile  in 
length.  The  natives  told  me  that  a  piper  who  was  over-curious 
went  in  with  a  design  to  find  out  the  length  of  it,  and  after  he 
entered  began  to  play  on  his  pipe,  but  never  returned  to  give 
an  account  of  his  progress."  l 

From  Ulinish  our  travellers  sailed  up  Loch  Bracadale  on  their 
way  to  Talisker.  "  We  had,"  says  Boswell,  "  good  weather  and  a 
fine  sail.  The  shore  was  varied  with  hills,  and  rocks,  and  corn- 
fields, and  bushes,  which  are  here  dignified  with  the  name  ot 
natural  wood"  They  landed  at  Ferneley,  a  farm-house  about 
three  miles  from  Talisker,  whither  they  made  their  way  over  the 
hills,  Johnson  on  horseback,  the  rest  on  foot.  The  weather,  no 
doubt,  had  been  too  uncertain  for  them  to  venture  into  the  open  sea 
round  the  great  headland  at  the  entrance  of  the  loch.  Skirting  the 
stern  and  rock-bound  coast,  a  few  miles'  sail  would  have  brought 

1  M.  Martin's  Western  Islands,  p.  150. 


CO 

2 

Q 


Q 
O 
U 


THE    SAIL   TO   TAL1SKER. 


207 


them  to  Talisker  Hay,  within  sight  of  Colonel  Macleod's  house. 
Yet,  had  the  wind  risen,  or  had  there  been  a  swell  from  the 
Atlantic,  they  would  have  been  forced  to  keep  out  to  sea.  Boswell 
describes  "  the  prodigious  force  and  noise  with  which  the  billows 
break  on  the  shore."  "It  is,"  says  Johnson,  "a  coast  where  no 
vessel  lands  but  when  it  is  driven  by  a  tempest  on  the  rocks." 
Only  two  nights  before  his  arrival  two  boats  had  been  wrecked 
there  in  a  storm.  "  The  crews  crept  to  Talisker  almost  lifeless 
with  wet,  cold,  fatigue,  and  terror."  What  could  not  be  safely  done 


LANDING    1'LACE. 


near  the  end  of  September,  might,  we  thought,  be  hazarded  in 
June.  As  the  day  was  fine  and  we  had  a  good  sea-boat,  an 
old  fisherman  to  manage  it,  our  trusty  gamekeeper  to  help  in 
rowing,  and  an  accomplished  yachtsman  in  our  artist,  we  boldly 
sailed  forth  into  the  Atlantic.  We  passed  in  sight  of  Macleod's 
Maidens,  beneath  rocks  such  as  Mr.  Brett  and  Mr.  Graham 
delight  to  paint.  In  one  spot  we  were  shown  where,  a  few  years 
before,  a  huge  mass  had  come  tumbling  down.  At  the  entrance  to 
the  Bay  we  passed  through  a  narrow  channel  in  the  rocks  with  the 
waves  foaming  on  each  side.  Even  our  stout-hearted  game- 


208 


TA1.ISKKR    HAY. 


keeper  lor  a  moment  looked  uneasy,  but  with  a  tew  strong  strokes 
of  the  oars  the  worst  was  past,  and  we  were  out  of  the  broken 
waters,  and  in  full  sight  of  the  little  bay  with  its  beach  of  great 
black  stones,  its  rugged  and  steep  headlands,  and  its  needle 
rocks,  with  one  of  the  sunniest  of  valleys  for  its  background. 
Johnson  thought  it  "the  place,  beyond  all  he  had  seen,  from 
which  the  gay  and  the  jovial  seem  utterly  excluded  ;  and  where 
the  hermit  might  grow  old  in  meditation  without  possibility 


VlliWS    AT    TAl.ISKliK. 


of  disturbance  or  interruption."  To  us 
on  that  fine  June  day,  with  the  haze 
lying  on  the  hills,  it  was  as  if 

"We  came  unto  a  land 
In  which  it  seemed  always  afternoon." 

One  sight,  to  which  I  had  long  looked 
forward,  I  missed.      It  was  no  longer  "a 
land  of  streams."     There  was  no  spot  where 

"  The  slender  stream 
Along  the  cliff  to  fall  and  pause  and  fall  did  seem." 

Boswell  had  counted  "  fifteen  different  waterfalls  near  the  house  in 
the  space  of  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile."  "  They  succeeded  one 
another  so  fast,"  said  Johnson,  "  that  as  one  ceased  to  be  heard 
another  began."  This  one  thing  was  wanting  on  that  beautiful 
afternoon  which  we  spent  in  this  delightful  spot.  The  voice  of 
the  cascades  was  still.  There  were  no  waterfalls  streaming  down 


COLONEL    MACLEOD    OF    TALISKER.  209 

the  lofty  hills.  One  indeed  we  found  by  following  the  course  of 
a  river  up  a  fine  glen,  but  owing  to  the  long  drought  its  roar  had 
sunk  into  a  murmur. 

Johnson's  host,  Colonel  Macleod,  was  the  good  kinsman  who 
had  befriended  the  young  Laird  in  the  troubles  which  he  encoun- 
tered on  his  succession  to  the  property. 

"He  had,"  writes  Boswell,  "been  bred  to  physic,  had  a  tincture  of  scholarship 
in  his  conversation,  which  pleased  Dr.  Johnson,  and  he  had  some  very  good  books ; 
and  being  a  colonel  in  the  Dutch  service,  he  and  his  lady,  in  consequence  of  having 
lived  abroad,  had  introduced  the  ease  and  politeness  of  the  continent  into  this  rude 
region." 

Pennant,  writing  in  the  year  1774,  thus  describes  these  Scotch 
regiments  in  the  Dutch  service  : 

"  They  were  formed  out  of  some  independent  companies  sent  over  either  in  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth  or  James  VI.  At  present  the  common  men  are  but  nominally 
national,  for  since  the  scarcity  of  men  occasioned  by  the  late  war,  Holland  is  no 
longer  permitted  to  draw  her  recruits  out  of  North  Britain.  But  the  officers  are  all 
Scotch,  who  are  obliged  to  take  oaths  to  our  government,  and  to  qualify  in  presence 
of  our  ambassador  at  the  Hague."  ' 

In  the  war  which  broke  out  between  England  and  Holland  in 

1781,  this  curious   system,  which  had  survived   the  great   naval 
battles  between  the  two  countries  in  the  seventeenth  century,  at  last 
came   to  an  end.     In    the    Gentlemen s  Magazine   for  December, 

1782,  we  read,  that  on  the  first  of  that  month  : 

"  The  Scotch  Brigade  in  the  Dutch  service  renounced  their  allegiance  to  their 
lawful  Sovereign,  and  took  a  new  oath  of  fidelity  to  their  High  Mightinesses.  They 
are  for  the  future  to  wear  the  Dutch  uniform,  and  not  to  carry  the  arms  of  the 
enemy  any  longer  in  their  colours,  nor  to  beat  their  march.  They  are  to  receive  the 
word  of  command  in  Dutch,  and  their  officers  are  to  wear  orange-coloured  sashes, 
and  the  same  sort  of  spontoons  as  the  officers  of  other  Dutch  regiments."2 

Colonel  Macleod,  if  he  was  still  living,  lost,  of  course,  his  com- 
mand. At  the  time  of  our  travellers'  visit  he  was  on  leave  of 
absence,  which  had  been  extended  for  some  years,  says  Johnson, 
"in  this  time  of  universal  peace."  The  knowledge  which  he  had 
gained  in  Holland  he  turned  to  good  account  in  Skye.  He  both 
drained  the  land  which  lay  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains  round 
Talisker,  and  made  a  good  garden.  '  He  had  been,"  says  Knox, 
"  an  observer  of  Dutch  improvements.  He  carried  off  in  proper 
channels  the  waters  of  two  rivers  which  often  deluged  the  bottom. 
He  divided  the  whole  valley  by  deep  and  sometimes  wide  ditches 
into  a  number  of  square  fields  and  meadows.  He  now  enjoys  the 

1  Pennant's  Voyage  to  the  Hebrides,  ed.  1774,  p.  289.  -  Gentleman's  Magazine,  1782,  p.  595. 

E    K 


2To  THE   GARDEN    AT   TALISKER. 

fruits  of  his  ingenuity  in  the  quantity  ut  grain  aiul  luiy  raised 
thereon."  He  had  made  it  "the  seat  of  plenty,  hospitality,  and 
good  nature."  '  To  few  places  in  our  islands  could  Dutch  art  have 
been  transplanted  where  it  would  find  nature  more  kindly.  Johnson 
noticed  the  prosperous  growth  of  the  trees,  which,  though  they 
were  not  many  years  old,  were  already  very  high  and  thick. 
Could  he  have  seen  them  at  the  present  clay  he  would  have  owned 
that  even  in  the  garden  of  an  Oxford  College  there  are  few  finer. 
The  soil  is  so  good,  we  were  told,  "  that  things  have  only  to  be 
planted  and  they  grow."  So  sheltered  from  all  the  cold  winds  is 
the  position,  and  so  great  is  the  warmth  diffused  by  the  beneficent 
Gulf  Stream,  that  the  whole  year  round  flowers  live  out  of  doors 
which  anywhere  but  on  the  southern  coasts  of  Devonshire  and 
Cornwall  would  be  killed  by  the  frosts.  The  garden  is  delightfully 
old-fashioned,  entirely  free  from  the  dismal  formality  of  ribbon- 
borders.  Fruit  trees,  flowers,  shrubs,  and  vegetables  mingle 
together.  It  lies  open  to  the  south-west,  being  enclosed  on  the 
other  sides  with  groves  of  trees.  A  lawn  shaded  by  a  noble 
sycamore  stretches  up  to  the  house.  Boswell  would  have  been 
pleased  to  find  that  smooth  turf  now  covers  the  court  which  in  his 
time  was  "  most  injudiciously  paved  with  round  blueish-grey 
pebbles,  upon  which  you  walked  as  if  upon  cannon-balls  driven  into 
the  ground."  The  house  "in  its  snug  corner "  has  been  greatly 
enlarged,  but  the  old  building  still  remains.  Unfortunately  no 
tradition  has  been  preserved  of  the  room  occupied  by  Johnson. 
Much  as  he  admired  this  sequestered  spot — "a  place  where  the 
imagination  is  more  amused  cannot  easily  be  found,"  he  said— 
nevertheless  it  was  here  that  he  quoted  to  Boswell  the  lines  of  the 

song: 

"  Every  island  is  a  prison 

Strongly  guarded  by  the  sea ; 
Kings  and  princes,  for  that  reason, 
Prisoners  are  as  well  as  we." 

If  Talisker  is  a  prison,  it  is  a  goodly  one.  There  are  few  places 
which  linger  more  pleasantly  in  my  memory.  To  the  beauty  of 
the  scenery  and  the  delightfulness  of  the  weather  was  added  the 
hospitality  which  we  received  from  our  kind  hostess,  Mrs.  Cameron. 
Time,  alas,  failed  us  to  climb  "  the  very  high  rocky  hill "  at  the 
back  of  the  house,  whence  Boswell  had  "  a  view  of  Barra,  the  Long 

1  Knox's  Tour,  p.  140. 


o 

D 

O 


O 

< 

o 

oo 


A    RIDE   ACROSS    SKYE.  211 

Island,  Bernera,  the  Loch  of  Dunvegan,  part  of  Rum,  part  of 
Raasay,  and  a  vast  deal  of  the  Isle  of  Skye."  According  to 
Pennant,  who  had  made  the  ascent  the  year  before : 

"  It  has  in  front  a  fine  series  of  genuine  basaltic  columns,  resembling  the  Giant's 
Causeway.  The  ruins  of  the  columns  at  the  base  made  a  grand  appearance ;  they 
were  the  ruins  of  the  creation.  This  is  the  most  northern  basalt  I  am  acquainted 
with  ;  the  last  of  four,  all  running  from  south  to  north — the  Giant's  Causeway, 
Staffa,  the  rock  Humbla,  and  Briis-rnhawl.  The  depth  of  ocean  in  all  probability 
conceals  the  lost  links  of  this  chain."  l 

This  mountain,  which  he  calls  Briis-mhawl,  in  Boswell's  narra- 
tive appears  as  Prieshwell. 

At  Talisker  Johnson  made  the  acquaintance  of  young  Macleane 
of  Col,  that  amiable  man  whose  death  by  drowning  the  following 
year  he  so  much  lamented.  Under  his  guidance,  taking  leave  of 
their  kind  hosts,  they  rode  across  the  island  to  Sconscr,  on  the 
coast  opposite  to  Raasay.  Of  this  part  of  their  journey  they  tell  us 
next  to  nothing,  though  they  passed  through  the  wildest  scenery. 
For  the  first  two  or  three  miles  their  path  wound  up  a  valley  that 
is  not  unworthy  of  the  most  delightful  parts  of  Cumberland.  It  is 
altogether  free  from  the  utter  desolation  which  casts  a  gloom  over 
so  much  of  Skye.  The  sloping  sides  of  the  hills  are  covered  with 
short  grass  and  fragrant  herbs.  All  about  in  summer  time  are 
dotted  the  sheep  and  lambs,  answering  each  other  with  their  bleats. 
When  we  travelled  along  this  way  we  passed  a  band  of  five-and- 
twenty  shearers  who  had  been  hard  at  work  for  many  days.  The 
farm  of  Talisker  keeps  a  winter  stock  of  between  five  and  six 
thousand  Cheviot  sheep,  and  the  clipping  takes  a  long  time. 
Dropping  into  the  valley  on  the  other  side  of  the  hills  the  road 
leads  beyond  the  head  of  Loch  Harport  across  the  island  to 
Sligachan,  where  amidst  gloomy  waste  now  stands  a  comfortable 
hotel.  In  the  little  garden  which  surrounds  it  is  the  only  trace 
of  cultivation  to  be  anywhere  seen.  It  would  have  seemed  im- 
possible to  add  anything  to  the  dreariness  of  the  scenery  ;  never- 
theless something  has  been  added  by  the  long  line  of  gaunt 
telegraph  posts  which  stretches  across  the  moor.  Perhaps  at  this 
spot  stood  the  little  hut  where  our  travellers  made  a  short  halt,  as 
they  watched  an  old  woman  grinding  at  the  quern.  With  one  hand 
she  rapidly  turned  round  the  uppermost  of  two  mill-stones,  while 
with  the  other  she  poured  in  the  corn  through  a  hole  pierced 

1   Voyage  to  the  Hebrides,  ed.  1774,  p.  291. 


212 


RETURN    TO    CORRICHATACHIN. 


through  it.  A  ride  of  a  few  more  miles  brought  the  party,  through 
the  gloom  of  evening,  to  Sconser,  where  they  dined  at  the  little 
inn. 


COKRICIIATACIIIN    TO    TofiERMORIE    (SEPTEMBER    25 — OCTOBER     1 6). 

At  Sconser  our  travellers  took  boat  for  Strolimus,  on  their  way 
to  the  friendly  farmhouse  at  Corrichatachin,  where  they  had  been 


ON   THE   ROAD   TO   SCONSER. 


so  hospitably  received  nearly  three  weeks  earlier.  Their  horses 
they  sent  round  a  point  of  land  to  meet  them  further  down  the 
coast. 

"  It  wns  seven  o'clock,"  writes  Boswell,  "when  we  got  into  our  boat.  We  had 
many  showers,  and  it  soon  grew  pretty  dark.  Dr.  Johnson  sat  silent  and  patient. 
Once  he  said,  as  he  looked  on  the  black  coast  of  Skye — black,  as  being  composed 
of  rocks  seen  in  the  dusk--' This  is  very  solemn.'  Our  boatmen  were  rude  singers, 
and  scorned  so  like  wild  Indians,  that  a  very  little  imagination  was  necessary  to  give 
one  an  impression  of  being  upon  an  American  river.  We  landed  at  Strolimus,  from 
whence  we  got  a  guide  to  walk  before  us,  for  two  miles,  to  Corrichatachin.  Not 
being  able  to  procure  a  horse  for  our  baggage,  I  took  one  portmanteau  before  me, 
and  Joseph  another.  We  had  but  a  single  star  to  light  us  on  our  way.  It  was  about 
eleven  when  we  arrived.  We  were  most  hospitably  received  by  the  master  and 
mistress,  who  were  just  going  to  bed,  but,  with  unaffected  ready  kindness,  made  a 
good  fire,  and  at  twelve  o'clock  at  night  had  supper  on  the  table." 


WEATHER-BOUND    AT   OSTKl.  213 

Here,  as  1  have  already  described,  they  rested  that  twentieth 
Sunday  after  Trinity,  when  Boswell,  recovering  from  his  drinking 
bout,  "  by  divine  interposition,  as  some  would  have  taken  it," 
opened  his  Prayer  Book  at  the  Apostles'  injunction  against  drunken- 
ness contained  in  the  Epistle  for  that  day.  Here,  too,  the  High- 
landers, drinking  their  toasts  over  the  punch,  won  by  Johnson's  easy 
and  social  manners,  "  vied  with  each  other  in  crying  out,  with  a 
strong  Celtic  pronunciation,  '  Toctor  Shonson,  Toctor  Shonson, 
your  health  ! "  The  weather  was  so  stormy  that  it  was  not  till  the 
afternoon  of  Tuesday,  September  28,  that  they  were  able  to 


SAILING   PAST  THE   ISLE  OF   RUM. 


continue  their  journey.  That  night  they  arrived  at  Ostig,  on  the 
north-western  side  of  the  promontory  of  Slate,  and  found  a  hospi- 
table reception  at  the  Manse.  Here,  too,  they  were  kept  prisoners 
by  wind  and  rain.  "  I  am,"  writes  Johnson,  "  still  confined  in  Skye. 
We  were  unskilful  travellers,  and  imagined  that  the  sea  was  an 
open  road  which  we  could  pass  at  pleasure  ;  but  we  have  now 
learned  with  some  pain  that  we  may  still  wait  for  a  long  time  the 
caprices  of  the  equinoctial  winds,  and  sit  reading  or  writing,  as  I 
now  do,  while  the  tempest  is  rolling  the  sea  or  roaring  in  the  moun- 
tains." Nevertheless,  so  good  was  the  entertainment  which  they 
received  that,  as  Boswell  tells  us,  "  the  hours  slipped  along  imper 
ceptibly."  They  had  books,  and  company,  and  conversation.  In 


214 


SITTING    SAIL    FOR    IONA. 


strange  contrast  to  the  wilclness  of  the  scenery  and  the  roughness 
of  the  weather  was  their  talk  one  day  about  Shenstone  and  his 
Love  Pastorals.  It  was  surely  not  among  the  stormy  Hebrides 
that  the  poet  of  the  Leasowes,  whose  "ambition  was  rural  elegance," 
would  have  expected  to  be  emoted.  Yet  here  it  was,  in  the  midst 
of  beating  winds  and  dashing  showers,  with  the  storm-tossed  sea  in 
view  of  the  windows,  that  Boswell  repeated  the  pretty  stanza  : 

"  She  gazed  as  I  slowly  withdrew  ; 

My  path  I  could  hardly  discern  ; 
So  sweetly  she  bade  me  adieu, 

I  thought  that  she  bade  me  return." 

On  Friday,  October  i,  they  took  advantage  of  a  break  in  the 

weather  to  move  on 

- 


to  Armidale,  about  a 
mile  from  the  Sound 
of  Slate,  where  they 
waited  for  a  favour- 
able wind  to  carry 
them  to  lona.  It 
came,  or  rather 
seemed  to  come,  on 
the  following  Sun- 
day. 

"  While  we  were  chat- 
ting," writes  Boswell,  "in 
the  indolent  style  of  men 
who  were  to  stay  here  all 
this  day  at  least,  we  were 
suddenly  roused  at  being  told  that  the  wind  was  fair,  that  a  little  fleet  of  herring- 
busses  was  passing  by  for  Mull,  and  that  Mr.  Simpson's  vessel  was  about  to  sail. 
Hugh  M'Donald,  the  skipper,  came  to  us,  and  was  impatient  that  we  should  get 
ready,  which  wo  soon  did.  ])r.  Johnson,  with  composure  and  solemnity,  repeated 
the  observation  of  Epictetus,  that  'as  man  has  the  voyage  of  death  before  him, 
whatever  may  be  his  employment,  he  should  be  ready  at  the  master's  call ;  and  an 
old  man  should  never  be  far  from  the  shore,  lest  he  should  not  be  able  to  get  him- 
self ready.'" 

For  some  hours  they  sailed  along  with  a  favourable  breeze, 
catching  sight  of  the  Isle  of  Rum  as  they  rounded  the  point ;  but 
when  they  had  got  in  full  view  of  Ardnamurchan,  the  wind  changed. 
They  tried  tacking,  but  a  storm  broke  upon  them,  night  came  on, 
and  they  were  forced  to  run  through  the  darkness  for  Col.  Boswell's 
account  of  this  dangerous  voyage  is  too  long  to  emote,  and  too  good 


AKIlNAMIIRCIIAN    POINT. 


THE    ISLAND    OF   COL. 


215 


to  abridge.  In  tin's  dreary  spot  they  were  weather-bound  for  more 
than  a  week.  il  There  is,"  writes  Johnson,  "  literally  no  tree  upon  the 
island;  part  of  it  is  a  sandy  waste,  over  which  it  would  be  really 
dangerous  to  travel  in  dry  weather,  and  with  a  high  wind."  The 
sight  of  these  hills  of  sand  struck  him  greatly.  "  I  heard  him,'1 
writes  Boswell,  "after  we  were  in  the  house,  repeating  to  himself, 
as  he  walked  about  the  room, 

'And  smothered  in  the  dusty  whirlwind  dies.1'' 
Over  this  low-lying  island  the  Atlantic  blasts  swept  in  all  their 


"V  ' 


fury.  On  Sunday  October  10,  Boswell  recorded  : — "  There  was  this 
day  the  most  terrible  storm  of  wind  and  rain  that  I  ever  remember. 
It  made  such  an  awful  impression  on  us  all,  as  to  produce,  for  some 
time,  a  kind  of  dismal  quietness  in  the  house." 

The  rough  weather  spread  far.  In  London,  as  the  old  weather 
tables  tell  us,  it  was  "a  stormy  day  with  heavy  rains  and  with  little 
intermission  night  and  day."  On  the  previous  Friday  Horace 
Walpole  had  come  home  in  a  tempest  from  Bushey  Park.  "  I 

1   Gentleman 's  Magazine,  1774,  p.  394. 


216  THE   SAIL   TO   TOBERMORY. 

hope,"  he  wrote,  "Jupiter  I'luvius  has  not  been  so  constant  at 
Ampthill.  1  think  he  ought  to  be  engraved  at  the  top  of  every  map 
of  Hngland."  Happily  in  the  young  Laird  of  Col  our  travellers  had 
the  kindest  of  hosts.  1 1  is  house  "  new-built  and  neat  "  still  stands  ; 
Grissipol,  which  they  visited,  is  in  ruins.  It  was  not  till  the  morning 
of  Thursday,  the  141)1,  that  they  were  able  to  set  sail.  With  a 
fair  breeze  they  were  soon  carried  over  to  Tobermory,  or  Mary's 
Well,  a  beautiful  bay  in  the  Isle  of  Mull. 

•'There  are  (writes  ISoswell)  sometimes  sixty  or  seventy  sail  here:  to-day  there 
were  twelve  or  fourteen  vessels.  To  see  such  a  fleet  was  the  next  thing  to  seeing  a 
town.  The  vessels  were  from  different  places  ;  Clyde,  Campbeltown,  Newcastle,  &c. 
One  was  returning  to  Lancaster  from  Hamburgh.  After  having  been  shut  up  so  long 
in  Col,  the  sight  of  such  an  assemblage  of  moving  habitations,  containing  such 
a  variety  of  people  engaged  in  different  pursuits,  gave  me  much  gaiety  of  spirit. 


*• 


COL  :    THE   LAIRDS    HOUSE. 


When  we  had   landed,   Dr.  Johnson   said,   '  Boswell  is  now  all  alive.     He  is  like 
Antaeus  ;  he  gets  new  vigour  whenever  he  touches  the  ground.' " 

No  such  fleet  is,  I  imagine,  ever  to  be  seen  there  at  the  present 
day,  for  one  steamer  does  the  work  of  many  small  vessels.  The 
beauty  of  this  little  haven  has  been  long  celebrated.  Sacheverell, 
who  visited  it  two  hundred  years  ago,  thus  describes  it  : — 

"  To  the  landward  it  is  surrounded  with  high  mountains  covered  with  woods, 
pleasantly  intermixed  with  rocks,  and  three  or  four  cascades  of  water,  which  throw 
themselves  from  the  top  of  the  mountain  with  a  pleasure  that  is  astonishing,  all  which 
together  make  one  of  the  oddest  and  most  charming  prospects  I  ever  saw.  Italy 
itself,  with  all  the  assistance  of  art,  can  hardly  afford  anything  more  beautiful  and 
diverting."' 

He  had  been  sent  there  to  fish  for  sunken  treasure.       Martin, 

1  Walpole's  Letters,  v.  512. 

2  W.  Sachevefell's  Account  of  I  he  Isle  of  Man,  ed.  1702,  p.  126. 


a 

^ 

< 

60 
_J 

O 


THE    SUNKEN    GALLEON. 


217 


whose  Description  of  the  ll'cstcrn  Isles  was  published  the  year  after 
Sacheverell's  book,  gives  the  following  acccount  of  this  expedi- 
tion :— 

"  One  of  the  ships  of  the  Spanish  Armada,  called  the  Elorida,  perished  in  this 
Bay,  having  been  blown  up  by  one  Smallet,  of  Dumbarton,  in  the  year  1588.  There 
was  a  great  sum  of  gold  and  money  on  board,  which  disposed  the  Earl  of  Argyle  and 
some  Englishmen  to  attempt  the  recovery  of  it.  Some  pieces  of  gold  and  money  and 
a  golden  chain  was  taken  out  of  her.  I  have  seen  some  fine  brass  cannon,  some 
pieces  of  eight,  teeth,  beads  and  pins  that  had  been  taken  out  of  that  ship.  Several 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Mull  told  me  that  they  had  conversed  with  their  relations  that 
were  living  at  the  harbour  when  the  ship  was  blown  up."  ' 

"One  Smallet"  was  an  ancestor  of  the  great  novelist,  who  in  his 
Humphry  Clinker  artfully  brings  old  Matthew  Bramble  to  Tober- 
mory  so  that  he  may  celebrate  the  great  deed  of  his  forefather. 
According  to  his  ac- 
count "  the  clivers 
found  the  hull  of  the 
vessel  still  entire,  but 
so  covered  with  sand 
that  they  could  not 
make  their  way  be- 
tween decks. ":  Mr. 
Froude  mentions  the 

loss     of     this     great  C01VAV 

Spanish    galleon,  but 

did  not  know  the  name  of  the  harbour.^  Sir  Walter  Scott,  who 
visited  Tobermory  a  century  and  a  quarter  after  Sacheverell,  said 
that,  "  the  richness  of  the  round  steep  green  knolls,  clothed 
with  copse  and  glancing  with  cascades,  and  a  pleasant  peep  at  a 
small  fresh-water  loch  embosomed  among  them — the  view  of  the 
bay  surrounded  and  guarded  by  the  island  of  Colvay — the  gliding 
of  two  or  three  vessels  in  the  more  distant  sound — and  the 
row  of  the  gigantic  Arclnamurchan  mountains  closing  the  scene  to 
the  north,  almost  justify  his  eulogium  who  in  1688  declared  the  Bay 
of  Tobermory  might  equal  any  prospect  in  Italy."  With  one  thing 
Sacheverell  was  not  content,  and  that  was  the  weather.  "  With  the 
dog-days,"  he  says,  "  the  autumnal  rains  began,  and  for  six  weeks 
we  had  scarce  a  good  day.  The  whole  frame  of  nature  seemed  in- 
hospitable, bleak,  stormy,  rainy,  windy." 


'   Martin's  Western  Islands,  p.  253. 
*  Humphry  Clinker,  iii.  57. 


3  History  of  England,  e<l.  1870,  xii.  443. 

4  Lockhart's  Life  of  Scott,  iv.  338. 


F    F 


218  A    DOLOROUS  COUNTRY. 

There  was  a  tolerable  inn,  where  "  a  dish  of  tea  and  some  good 
bread  and  butter"  restored  Johnson's  good  humour,  which  had  been 
somewhat  ruffled  by  the  miserable  accommodation  which  he  had  had 
on  shipboard.  They  did  not  pass  the  night  here,  but  became  the 
guests  of  a  Dr.  Macleane  who  lived  close  by.  "  Col,"  wrote  John- 
son, "  made  every  Macleane  open  his  house  where  we  came,  and 
supply  us  with  horses  when  we  departed."  Here  they  were  once 
more  kept  prisoners  by  the  weather.  Not  only  was  there  wind  and 
rain,  but  the  rivers,  they  were  told,  were  impassable.  They  had 
books  and  good  talk.  In  the  daughter  of  the  house  Johnson  at  last 
found  "  an  interpreter  of  Erse  poetry."  At  Dunvegan  he  com- 
plained that  "  he  could  never  get  the  meaning  of  a  song  explained 
to  him."  Miss  Macleane  had  been  bred  in  the  Lowlands,  and  had 
gained  Gaelic  by  study.  She  therefore  understood  the  exact  nature 
of  his  inquiries. 

"  She  is  [he  said]  the  most  accomplished  lady  that  I  have  found  in  the  Highlands. 
She  knows  French,  music,  and  drawing,  sews  neatly,  makes  shell-work,  and  can  milk 
cows  ;  in  short,  she  can  do  every  thing.  She  talks  sensibly,  and  is  the  first  person 
whom  I  have  found,  that  can  translate  Erse  poetry  literally." 


ULVA'S  ISLE  (OCTOBER  16-17). 

On  Saturday,  October  16,  the  weather  changed  for  the  better, 
owing  to  a  new  moon,  as  Boswell  thought.  A  long  clay's  journey 
lay  before  them,  for  they  hoped  to  reach  Inchkenneth,  a  little  island 
which  lies  at  the  mouth  of  Loch  Na  Keal,  close  to  the  western 
coast  of  Mull.  Here  they  were  to  be  the  guest  of  Sir  Allan 

Macleane. 

_ 
"We  set  out  [writes  Boswell]  mounted  on  little  Mull  horses.     Dr.  Johnson  was 

not  in  very  good  humour.  He  said,  it  was  a  dreary  country,  much  worse  than  Skye.  I 
differed  from  him.  '  O,  Sir,'  said  he,  '  a  most  dolorous  country  ! '  We  had  a  very 
hard  journey.  I  had  no  bridle  for  my  sheltie,  but  only  a  halter ;  and  Joseph  rode 
without  a  saddle.  At  one  place,  a  loch  having  swelled  over  the  road,  we  were 
obliged  to  plunge  through  pretty  deep  water.  Dr.  Johnson  observed,  how  helpless  a 
man  would  be,  were  he  travelling  here  alone,  and  should  meet  with  any  accident ; 
and  said,  '  he  longed  to  get  to  a  country  of  saddles  and  bridles.'  " 

When  he  called  the  country  "  most  dolorous"  he  had  no  doubt 
in  mind  the  lines  which  describe  the  march  of  "  the  adventurous 
bands  "  in  Paradise  Lost : 

"Through  many  a  dark  and  dreary  vale 
They  passed  and  many  a  region  dolorous." 


A  WKARY    RIDE. 


219 


Writing  to  Mrs.  Thrale  he  speaks  of  this  day's  journey  "  as  diffi- 
cult and  tedious  over  rocks  naked  and  valleys  untracked  through  a 
country  of  barrenness  and  solitude.  We  came  almost  in  the  dark 
to  the  sea  side,  weary  and  dejected,  having  met  with  nothing  but 
water  falling  from  the  mountains  that  could  raise  any  image  of  de- 
light." Sacheverell  had  found  the  same  ride  no  less  gloomy. 

"  We  proceeded  on  our  journey  [he  writes]  over  a  country  broken,  rocky,  boggy, 
barren,  and  almost  wholly  unarablc.  Wet  and  weary  at  last  we  came  to  a  Change- 


LOCH    NA   REAL. 


House  (so  they  call  a  house  of  entertainment) ;  if  a  place  that  had  neither 
bed,  victuals,  or  drink  may  be  allowed  that  name.  Our  servants  cut  us  green  fern, 
wet  as  it  was,  for  bedding.  We  set  forward  early  next  morning.  If  I  thought  the 
first  day's  journey  hard  and  unequal,  this  was  much  worse  ;  high  and  craggy 
mountains,  horrid  rocks  and  dreadful  precipices  ;  Pelion  upon  Ossa  are  trifling  and 
little  if  compared  to  them."  ' 

Our  travellers  made  their  way  so  slowly  over  this  rough  country 

1  Account  of  the  Isle  of  Man,  p.  130. 


220  THE   CHIEF    OF    UEVA'S    ISLE. 

that  though  they  started  at  eleven,  they  did  not  reach  the  coast  till 
seven  at  night.  Yet  they  had  been  told  that  the  distance  was  but 
eight  miles.  To  add  to  the  gloom,  it  was  here  that  Johnson  dis- 
covered that  he  had  lost  that  famous  piece  of  timber,  his  huge  oak- 
stick.  Seeing  how  late  it  was,  Col,  who  throughout  had  been  their 
guide,  "  determined  that  they  should  pass  the  night  at  Macquarrie's, 
in  the  Island  of  Ulva,  which  lies  between  Mull  and  Inchkenneth." 
The  ferry-boat  unfortunately  was  on  the  other  side  of  the  narrow 
channel.  The  wind  was  so  high  that  their  shouts  could  not  be 
heard,  and  the  darkness  was  too  great  for  their  signals  to  be  seen. 
They  might  have  been  forced  to  spend  the  night  on  the  shore  had 
there  not  chanced  to  be  lying  in  the  little  Sound  of  Ulva  a  ship 
from  Londonderry.  In  its  long-boat  they  were  ferried  over. 
In  this  same  Sound  less  than  a  year  later,  on  the  night  of 
September  25,  1774,  poor  Col  lost  his  life.  "  His  boat,"  says  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  "  was  swamped  by  the  intoxication  of  the  sailors,  who 
had  partaken  too  largely  of  Macquarrie's  wonted  hospitality." 
Here,  perhaps,  the  Macleanes  will  some  day  set  up  a  memorial  to 
the  unhappy  youth.  "  Col  does  every  thing  for  us,"  said  Johnson  : 
"We  will  erect  a  statue  to  Col.  He  is  a  noble  animal.  He  is  as 
complete  an  islander  as  the  mind  can  figure.  He  is  a  farmer, 
a  sailor,  a  hunter,  a  fisher  ;  he  will  run  you  down  a  dog  ;  if  any  man 
has  a  tail,  it  is  Col.  He  is  hospitable;  and  he  has  an  intrepidity 
of  talk  whether  he  understands  the  subject  or  not."  His  untimely 
end  was  regretted  by  those  who  only  knew  "this  amiable  man  "  by 
the  reports  of  our  two  travellers.  "  At  the  death  of  Col,"  said 
Boswell,  "  my  wife  wept  much." '  "  There  is  great  lamentation 
here,"  wrote  Johnson  from  Lichfield,  "for  the  death  of  Col.  Lucy 
is  of  opinion  that  he  was  wonderfully  handsome."  Though  they 
were  in  the  land  of  second-sight  there  was  no  shadow  thrown 
by  coming  events  on  the  very  liberal  entertainment  provided  by 
their  host.  Nevertheless  the  Chief  of  Diva's  Isle  had  a  sea 
of  troubles  of  his  own  to  oppose.  He  was  almost  overwhelmed 
with  the  stormy  waters,  not  of  Loch  Gyle,  but  of  debt.  "  His 
ancestors,"  wrote  Johnson  to  Mrs.  Thrale,  "  had  reigned  in  Ulva 
beyond  memory,  but  he  has  reduced  himself  by  his  negligence  and 
folly  to  the  necessity  of  selling  this  venerable  patrimony."  His 
house  was  a  strange  mixture  of  luxury  and  squalor.  The  room 
in  which  Johnson  slept  was  unbearded,  and  through  a  broken 

1  Croker's  Boswell,  p.  826. 


INCHKENNETH.  221 

window  the  rain  had  driven  in  and  turned  the  floor  to  mud.  He 
thus  describes  his  night's  lodging  : — "  The  house  and  the  furniture 
are  not  always  nicely  suited.  We  were  driven  once,  by  missing 
a  passage,  to  the  hut  of  a  gentleman  where,  after  a  very  liberal 
supper,  when  I  was  conducted  to  my  chamber,  I  found  an  elegant 
bed  of  Indian  cotton,  spread  with  fine  sheets.  The  accommodation 
was  flattering ;  I  undressed  myself,  and  felt  my  feet  in  the 
mire.  The  bed  stood  upon  the  bare  earth  which  a  long  course 
of  rain  had  softened  to  a  puddle." 


INCHKENNETH,   MACKINNON'S  CAVE,  AND  IONA  (OCTOBER   17-20). 

Our  travellers  having  stayed  but  one  night  at  Ulva,  on  the 
morning  of  Sunday,  October  17,  took  boat  and  rowed  to  Inchken- 
neth,  "  an  island  about  a  mile  long,  and  perhaps  half  a  mile  broad, 
remarkable  for  pleasantness  and  fertility.  It  is  verdant  and  grassy, 
and  fit  both  for  pasture  and  tillage  ;  but  it  has  no  trees."  The  only 
inhabitants  were  "  the  chief  of  the  ancient  and  numerous  clan  of  Mac- 
leane,  his  daughter  and  their  servants."  In  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Thrale 
Johnson  says  :  "  Sir  Allan,  a  chieftain,  a  baronet,  and  a  soldier,  in- 
habits in  this  insulated  desert  a  thatched  hut  with  no  chambers. 
He  received  us  with  the  soldier's  frankness  and  the  gentleman's 
elegance,  and  introduced  us  to  his  daughters,  two  young  ladies  who 
have  not  wanted  education  suitable  to  their  birth,  and  who  in  their 
cottage  neither  forgot  their  dignity  nor  affected  to  remember  it. 
His  affairs  are  in  disorder  by  the  fault  of  his  ancestors,  and  while 
he  forms  some  scheme  for  retrieving  them,  he  has  retreated 
hither."  By  chambers,  Johnson  seems  to  mean  rooms  on  an  upper 
floor.  Boswell  describes  the  habitation  as  commodious,  "  though  it 
consisted  but  of  a  few  small  buildings  only  one  story  high."  In  two 
of  these  huts  were  the  servants'  rooms  and  the  kitchen.  "  The 
dinner  was  plentiful  and  delicate.  Neither  the  comforts  nor  the 
elegancies  of  life  were  wanting.  There  were  several  dishes  and 
variety  of  liquors."  Sir  Walter  Scott  many  years  later  visited  the 
island  in  company  with  a  Gloucestershire  baronet,  Sir  George 
Onesiphorus  Paul  : 

"  He  seemed  to  me, '  writes  Sir  Walter,  "  to  suspect  many  of  the  Highland  tales 
which  he  heard,  but  he  showed  most  incredulity  on  the  subject  of  Johnson's  having 
been  entertained  in  the  wretched  huts  of  which  we  saw  the  ruins.  He  took  me  aside, 


222  SIR   ALLAN    MACLEANE. 

and  conjured  me  to  tell  him  the  truth  of  the  matter.  'This  Sir  Allan,'  said  he,  'was 
lie  a  regular  baroni^  or  was  his  title  such  a  tradilional  one  as  you  find  in  Ireland  ?  ' 
1  assured  my  excellent  acquaintance  that,  '  for  my  own  part,  I  would  have  paid  more 
respect  to  a  knight  of  K.erry,  or  knight  of  Glynn  ;  yet  Sir  Allan  Macleane  was  a 
regular  barond  by  patent ;'  and,  having  given  him  this  information,  I  took  the  liberty 
of  asking  him,  in  return,  whether  he  would  not  in  conscience  prefer  the  worst  cell  in 
the  jail  at  Gloucester  (which  he  had  been  very  active  in  overlooking  while  the  build- 
ing was  going  on)  to  those  exposed  hovels  where  Johnson  had  been  entertained  by 
rank  and  beauty.  He  looked  round  the  little  islet,  and  allowed  Sir  Allan  had  some 
advantage  in  exercising  ground  ;  but  in  other  respects  he  thought  the  compulsory 
tenants  of  Gloucester  had  greatly  the  advantage.  Such  was  his  opinion  of  a  place, 
concerning  which  Johnson  has  recorded  that  '  it  wanted  little  which  palaces  could 
afford.' " 

Johnson,  by  the  way,  did  not  write  "  it  wanted,"  but  "  we  wanted 
little  that  palaces  afford."  We  have  from  Sir  Walter  also  an 
amusing  story  which  shows  how  the  chief  of  the  Macleanes  in  the 
embarrassment  of  his  affairs  had  learnt  to  hate  the  sight  of  an 
attorney — writers,  as  they  are  called  in  Scotland  : 

"  Upon  one  occasion  he  made  a  visit  to  a  friend  residing  at  Carron  lodge,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Carron,  where  the  banks  of  that  river  are  studded  with  pretty  villas  : 
Sir  Allan,  admiring  the  landscape,  asked  his  friend  whom  that  handsome  seat 

belonged  to.     '  M ;  the  writer  to  the  signet,'  was  the  reply.     '  Umph  ! '  said  Sir 

Allan,  but   not  with  an  accent  of  assent,  '  I  mean  that  other  house.'     '  Oh  !  that 

belongs  to  a  very  honest  fellow,  Jamie ,  also  a  writer  to  the  signet.'     '  Umph  ! ' 

said  the  Highland  chief  of  Macleane,  with  more  emphasis  than  before,  '  And  yon 
smaller  house  ?  '  That  belongs  to  a  Stirling  man  ;  I  forget  his  name,  but  I  am  sure 
he  is  a  writer  too  ;  for .'  Sir  Allan,  who  had  recoiled  a  quarter  of  a  circle  back- 
ward at  every  response,  now  wheeled  the  circle  entire,  and  turned  his  back  on  the 
landscape,  saying,  '  My  good  friend,  I  must  own  you  have  a  pretty  situation  here  ; 
but  d — n  your  neighbourhood.' "  ' 

In  his  dislike  of  lawyers  he  would  have  found  a  common  feeling 
in  Johnson,  who  one  day,  "  when  inquiry  was  made  concerning  a 
person  who  had  quitted  a  company  where  he  was,  observed  that  he 
did  not  care  to  speak  ill  of  any  man  behind  his  back,  but  he  believed 
the  gentleman  was  an  attorney."  Happily  there  was  nothing  to  dis- 
turb the  tranquillity  of  the  scene  during  the  visit  of  our  travellers. 
The  Sunday  which  Johnson  spent  on  Inchkenneth  was,  as  he  told 
Boswell,  "the  most  agreeable  he  had  ever  passed."  He  thus  de- 
scribes it  to  Mrs.  Thrale  :  "Towards  evening  Sir  Allan  told  us 
that  Sunday  never  passed  over  him  like  another  day.  One  of  the 
ladies  read,  and  read  very  well,  the  evening  service,  '  and  Paradise 
was  opened  in  the  wild.' "  Such  was  the  impression  produced  on 
him  that  he  commemorated  the  day  in  some  pretty  Latin  lines 

1  Croker's  Boswell,  p.  384.  2  Pope.     Eloisa  to  Abelard,  1.  135. 


A   SUNDAY    ON    INCHKENNETH. 


223 


entitled,  Insula  Saudi  KcnnctJii.  Though  he  would  not  attend  a 
Scotch  church  and  hear  Robertson  preach,  yet  a  woman's  reading 
the  English  service  did  not  shock  him. 

"  Quid  quod  sacrifici  versavit  fcmina  libros  ? 
Legitimas  faciunt  pectora  pura  preces." 

"A  woman's  hand,  'tis  true,  turned  o'er  the  sacred  leaves, 
But  prayer  from  hearts  so  pure  God's  sanction  sure  receives." 

He  thus  prettily  ends  his  verses  : 

"  Quo  vagor  ulterius  ?  quod  ubique  requiritur  hie  est ; 
Hie  secura  quies,  hie  et  honestus  amor." 

"  Why  should  we  further  roam  ?  here  what  all  seek  we  gain, 
Both  peace  without  a  care,  and  love  without  a  stain." 


INCHKENNETH    CHAPEL. 


Sir  Allan  had  chosen  well  his  hermitage.  The  landing-place  is 
on  the  south-eastern  side  of  the  island,  in  a  little  bay  with  a  sandy 
beach,  sheltered  by  a  low  point  from  the  storms  coming  from  the 
north-west,  while  the  cold  blasts  from  the  north  and  the  north-east 
are  kept  off  by  a  low  hill.  The  ground  slopes  up  from  the  shore 
in  pleasant  meadow  land.  At  the  bottom  of  the  slope,  a  little 
above  the  beach,  Sir  Allan,  I  conjecture,  had  his  habitation.  Here 
are  the  ruins  of  a  farmhouse  which  was  burnt  down  a  few  years 
ago.  It  is  very  likely  that  it  occupied  the  same  site  as  his  cottages. 


224  'I'HK   CHAPEL  ON   INCHKENNETH. 

The  road  marked  with  cart-wheels,  as  on  the  main  land,  at  the 
sight  of  which  Dr.  Johnson's  heart  was  cheered,  I  failed  to  dis- 
cover. We  wandered  up  the  little  path  to  where  on  the  rising 
ground  the  ruined  chapel  stands  within  the  hearing  of  the  wave. 

"  \Ve  walked  uncovered  into  tlie  chapel,"  writes  Johnson,  "and  saw  in  the 
reverend  ruin  the  effects  of  precipitate  reformation.  The  floor  is  covered  with 
ancient  grave-stones,  of -which  the  inscriptions  are  not  now  legible.  The  altar  is 
not  yet  quite  demolished;  beside  it,  on  the  right  side,  is  a  IMS  relief  oi  the  Virgin 
with  her  child,  and  an  angel  hovering  over  her.  On  the  other  side  still  stands  a 
hand-bell,  which,  though  it  has  no  clapper,  neither  Presbyterian  bigotry  nor  bar- 
barian wantonness  has  yet  taken  away.  The  chapel  is  thirty-eight  feet  long  and 
eighteen  broad.  lioswell,  who  is  very  pious,  went  into  it  at  night  to  perform  his 
devotions,  but  came  back  in  haste  for  fear  of  spectres.  Near  the  chapel  is  a  foun- 
tain, to  which  the  water,  remarkably  pure,  is  conveyed  from  a  distant  hill  through 
pipes  laid  by  the  Romish  clergy,  which  still  perform  the  office  of  conveyance  though 
they  have  never  been  repaired  since  Popery  was  suppressed." 

Our  boatman,  whom  I  had  in  vain  questioned  about  Johnson's 
host,  led  me  up  to  the  tomb  of  an  old  knight,  clothed  in  armour, 
with  a  dog  lying  at  his  feet,  and  said,  "  That  is  Sir  Allan."  The 
little  fountain,  in  spite  of  the  lapse  of  years  and  the  long  drought, 
still  ran  with  a  stream  of  pure  water.  Besides  the  chapel,  there 
had  once  been  on  the  island  a  seminary  of  priests.  "Sir  Allan," 
writes  Johnson,  "  had  a  mind  to  trace  the  foundations  of  a  college, 
but  neither  I  nor  Mr.  Boswell,  who  bends  a  keener  eye  on  vacancy, 
were  able  to  perceive  them."  Where  they  failed  we  could  not  hope 
to  succeed.  We  next  explored,  as  they  had  done,  a  neighbouring 
islet. 

"Even  Inchkenneth,"  says  Johnson,  "has  a  subordinate  island,  named  Sandi- 
land,  I  suppose  in  contempt,  where  we  landed,  and  found  a  rock,  with  a  surface  of 
perhaps  four  acres,  of  which  one  is  naked  stone,  another  spread  with  sand  and 
shells,  some  of  which  I  picked  up  for  their  glossy  beauty,  and  two  covered  with  a 
little  earth  and  grass,  on  which  Sir  Allan  has  a  few  sheep.  I  doubt  not  but  when 
there  was  a  college  at  Inchkenneth,  there  was  a  hermitage  upon  Sandiland." 

The  shells,  perhaps,  he  kept  to  add  to  the  collection  of  Mrs.  Thrale's 
eldest  daughter.  "  I  have  been  able,"  he  wrote  later  on,  "  to  collect 
very  little  for  Queeney's  cabinet."  The  name  which  our  boatman 
gave  to  the  island  was,  so  far  as  I  could  catch  it,  not  Sandiland, 
but  Sameilan.  At  the  time  of  our  visit  it  had  for  inhabitants  four 
sheep,  and  flocks  of  sea-birds  who  made  it  their  breeding  ground. 
They  flew  circling  and  screaming  over  our  heads,  while  a  mother 
bird  led  off  a  late  brood  of  little  ones  into  the  sea.  Before  each  of 
the  burrows  in  which  they  made  their  nests  was  a  litter  of  tiny 


q 
z 
«« 

_ 

I 


SANDII.ANI). 


225 


shells  thrown  up  like  sand  before  a  rabbit-warren.  The  sun  shone 
brightly,  the  little  waves  beat  on  the  shore,  while  all  around  us 
there  were  mountains,  islands,  and  lochs.  As  I  picked  up  a  few 
shells,  I  thought  that  on  this  lonely  rock,  perhaps,  none  had  been 
gathered  since  the  day  when  they  caught  Johnson's  eye  by 


MACKINNONS   CAVK. 


their  glossy  beauty.  In  sailing  back  to  the  mainland  of  Mull 
we  saw  four  seals  popping  up  their  heads  in  the  water  near  the 
shore. 

So  pleasant  did  Johnson  find  the  life  in  Inchkenneth  that  he 
remained  a  day  longer  than  he  had  intended.  "  We  could  have 
been  easily  persuaded,"  he  writes,  "  to  a  longer  stay,  but  life  will 
not  be  all  passed  in  delight.  The  session  at  Edinburgh  was 

G  G 


226  MACKINNON'S    CAVE. 

approaching  from  which  Mr.  Boswell  could  not  be  absent."  On 
the  morning  of  Tuesday,  October  19,  they  started  for  lona  in  a 
good  strong  boat,  with  four  stout  rowers  under  the  guidance  of  the 
chief  of  the  Macleanes.  On  the  shore  they  took  their  last  farewell 
of  poor  Col,  "  who,'  wrote  Johnson,  "  had  treated  us  with  so  much 
kindness,  and  concluded  his  favours  by  consigning  us  to  Sir 
Allan."  On  the  way  they  visited  Mackinnon's  Cave,  on  the 
opposite  coast  of  Mull,  the  greatest  natural  curiosity,"  said 
Johnson,  "he  had  ever  seen."  He  thus  describes  it  in  a  letter  to 
Mrs.  Thrale. 

"  We  had  sonic  difficulty  to  make  our  way  over  the  vast  masses  of  broken  rocks 
that  lie  before  the  entrance,  and  at  the  mouth  were  embarrassed  with  stones,  which 
the  sea  had  accumulated  as  at  Brighthelmstone ;  but  as  we  advanced  we  reached  a 
floor  of  soft  sand,  and  as  we  left  the  light  behind  us  walked  along  a  very  spacious 
cavity  vaulted  overhead  with  an  arch  almost  regular,  by  which  a  mountain  was  sus- 
tained, at  least,  a  very  lofty  rock.  From  this  magnificent  cavern  went  a  narrow 
passage  to  the  right  hand,  which  we  entered  with  a  candle,  and  though  it  was 
obstructed  with  great  stones,  clambered  over  them  to  a  second  expansion  of  the 
cave,  in  which  there  lies  a  great  square  stone,  which  might  serve  as  a  table.  The 
cave  goes  onward  to  an  unknown  extent,  but  we  were  now  one  hundred  and  sixty 
yards  underground;  we  had  but  one  candle,  and  had  never  heard  of  any  that  went 
further  and  came  back  ;  we  therefore  thought  it  prudent  to  return." 

"  Tradition,"  according  to  Boswell,  "  says  that  a  piper  and  twelve 
men  once  advanced  into  this  cave,  nobody  can  tell  how  far;  and 
never  returned."  It  is  indeed  a  wonderful  place.  As  we  sat  on 
the  rocks  near  the  entrance,  with  the  huge  cliffs  rising  sheer  above 
us,  and  the  waves  breaking  at  our  feet,  we  could  see  in  the  distance 
lona,  with  its  beach  of  white  sand,  Staffa  with  its  lofty  masses  of 
dark  rock,  Little  Colonsay  with  the  waves  dashing  in  foam  upon  it, 
and  on  the  horizon  a  coast  which  we  took  to  be  the  island  of  Col. 
Vast  masses  of  rock  lay  along  the  beach  in  huge  and  wild  disorder. 
Beyond  the  cavern  they  came  to  an  end  ;  for  there  the  cliff  rose 
from  the  sea  steep  as  the  wall  of  a  house.  The  cascade  near  the 
cave,  which  Boswell  mentions,  was  falling  in  a  very  slender  stream. 
Hard  by  a  huge  crag  was  covered  almost  to  the  top  by  the  fresh 
young  leaves  of  a  great  ivy-tree.  It  called  up  to  my  memory  the 
ivy-mantled  ruins  of  Kenilworth  Castle. 

Our  travellers,  taking  boat  again,  continued  their  voyage  along 
the  shore  of  Mull.  "  The  island  of  Staffa,"  writes  Boswell,  "  we 
saw  at  no  very  great  distance,  but  could  not  land  upon  it,  the  surge 
was  so  high  on  its  rocky  coast."  It  is  strange  that  Sir  James 
Mackintosh,  with  this  passage  before  him,  should  have  accused 


ROVING    AMONG   THK    HEBRIDES. 


227 


Johnson  of  having  visited  lona,  "without  looking  at  Staffa,  which 
lay  in  sight,  with  that  indifference  to  natural  objects,  either  of  taste 
or  scientific  curiosity,  which  characterised  him."  L  As  they  sailed 
along,  "  Sir  Allan,  anxious  for  the  honour  of  Mull,  was  still  talking 
of  its  woods,  and  pointing  them  out  to  1  )r.  Johnson,  as  appearing  at  a 
distance  on  the  skirts  of  that  island.  '  Sir,'  he  answered,  '  I  saw  at 
Tobermory  what  they  called  a  wood,  which  I  unluckily  took  for 
heat  It.  If  you  show  me  what  I  shall  take  for  fnrzc,  it  will  be 
something.' ' 

They  dined  at  "a  cluster  of  rocks,  black  and  horrid,"  near  to 
which  was  a  public-house  where  they  had  hoped  to  procure  some 
rum  or  brandy  for  the  boatmen ;  "  but  unfortunately  a  funeral  a 
few  days  before  had 

exhausted    all    their    1~  ' 

store."  Smollett  in  his 
Humphry  Clinker, 
tells  how  a  Highland 
gentleman,  at  his 
grandmother's 
funeral,  "  seemed  to 
think  it  a  disparage- 
ment to  his  family 
that  not  above  a 
hundred  gallons  of 
whisky  had  been  MULL. 

drunk    upon   such   a 

solemn  occasion."1  The  rest  of  this  day's  voyage  Johnson  thus 
finely  described  in  one  of  his  letters  :  "  We  then  entered  the 
boat  again  ;  the  night  came  upon  us  :  the  wind  rose ;  the  sea 
swelled.  We  passed  by  several  little  islands  in  the  silent  solemnity 
of  faint  moonshine,  seeing  little,  and  hearing  only  the  wind  and 
the  water.  At  last  we  reached  the  island  ;  the  venerable  seat  of 
ancient  sanctity,  where  secret  piety  reposed,  and  where  fallen 
greatness  was  reposited."  Boswell  adds  that  as  they  "sailed  along 
by  moonlight  in  a  sea  somewhat  rough,  and  often  between  black 
and  gloomy  rocks,  Dr.  Johnson  said,  '  If  this  be  not  roving  among 
the  Hebrides  nothing  is.'" 

lona,  which  of  old  belonged  to  the  Macleanes,  in  their  recent 
embarassments  had  been  sold  to  the   Duke  of  Argyle.     Though 


1  Lift  of  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  ii.  257. 


2  Humphry  Clinker,  iii.  27. 


228  THE   MACLEANES   OF   IONA. 

the  tic  of  property  was  broken  yet  the  feeling  of  clanship  remained 
entire.  "  \Vhatever  was  in  the  island,"  writes  Johnson,  "  Sir  Allan 
could  demand,  for  the  inhabitants  were  Macleanes  ;  but  having 
little  they  could  not  give  us  much."  A  curious  scene  described 
by  Bos  well  bears  witness  to  the  strength  of  the  devotion  of  these 
poor  people. 

"  Sir  Allan  had  been  told  that  a  man  had  refused  to  send  him  some  rum,  at  which 
the  knight  was  in  great  indignation.  'You  rascal!  (said  he,)  don't  you  know  that  I 
can  hang  you,  if  I  please?'  Not  adverting  to  the  Chieftain's  power  over  his  clan,  I 
imagined  that  Sir  Allan  had  known  of  some  capital  crime  that  the  fellow  had  com- 
mitted, which  he  could  discover,  and  so  get  him  condemned  ;  and  said,  '  How  so?" 
'  Why,  (said  Sir  Allan,)  are  they  not  all  my  people  ?  '  Sensible  of  my  inadvertency, 
and  most  willing  to  contribute  what  I  could  towards  the  continuation  of  feudal 
authority,  '  Very  true,'  said  I.  Sir  Allan  went  on  :  '  Refuse  to  send  rum  to  me,  you 
rascal  !  Don't  you  know  that,  if  I  order  you  to  go  and  cut  a  man's  throat,  you  are 
to  do  it  ?'  '  Yes,  an't  please  your  honour  !  and  my  own  too,  and  hang  myself  too.' 
The  poor  fellow  denied  that  he  had  refused  to  send  the  rum.  His  making  these 
professions  was  not  merely  a  pretence  in  presence  of  his  Chief;  for  after  he  and  I 
were  out  of  Sir  Allan's  hearing,  he  told  me,  '  Had  he  sent  his  dog  for  the  rum,  I 
would  have  given  it :  I  would  cut  my  bones  for  him.'  It  was  very  remarkable  to 
find  such  an  attachment  to  a  Chief,  though  he  had  then  no  connection  with  the 
island,  and  had  not  been  there  for  fourteen  years.  Sir  Allan,  by  way  of  upbraiding 
the  fellow,  said,  '  I  believe  you  are  a  Campbell!  " 

The  memory  of  the  power  so  lately  exercised  throughout  the 
Highlands  by  the  chiefs  was  not  soon  forgotten.  It  was  noticed 
so  late  as  1793,  that  in  Scotland  master  was  still,  for  the  most  part, 
the  term  used  for  landlord.  As  an  instance  of  this  it  was  mentioned 
that  in  a  sermon  preached  in  the  High  Church  of  Edinburgh  in 
1788,  the  minister  thus  described  the  late  Earl  of  Kinnoul  in  rela- 
tion to  his  tenants.1  Even  after  the  abolition  of  the  jurisdictions 
of  the  chiefs  the  powers  left  in  the  hands  of  the  justices  were  very 
great.  "  An  inferior  judge  in  Scotland,"  wrote  the  historian  of 
Edinburgh  in  the  year  1779,  "makes  nothing  of  sentencing  a  man 
to  whipping,  pillory,  banishment  from  the  limits  of  his  jurisdiction, 
and  such  other  trifling  punishments,  without  the  idle  formality  of  a 
jury." 

In  lona,  however,  there  was  no  need  of  threats.  The  poor 
people  were  devoted  to  their  former  chief.  "  He  went,"  says 
Johnson,  "to  the  headman  of  the  island  whom  fame,  but  fame 
delights  in  amplifying,  represents  as  worth  no  less  than  fifty  pounds. 
He  was,  perhaps,  proud  enough  of  his  guests,  but  ill  prepared  for 

1  J.  L.  Buchanan,  Travels  in  the  Western  Highlands  from  1782  to  1790,  p.  5. 

2  History  of  Edinburgh,  p.  445. 


THE   MACLJEANES    OF    IONA.  229 

our  entertainment ;  however,  he  soon  produced  more  provision  than 
men  not  luxurious  required."  There  was  not  a  single  house  in 
which,  with  any  comfort,  they  could  have  been  lodged.  Pennant, 
who  had  been  there  a  year  earlier,  "  had  pitched  a  rude  tent  formed 
of  oars  and  sails."  There  was  but  one  house  which  had  a  chimney. 
"  Nevertheless,  even  in  this,"  says  Johnson,  "  the  fire  was  made  on 
the  floor  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  and  notwithstanding  the 
dignity  of  their  mansion  the  inmates  rejoiced  like  their  neighbours 
in  the  comforts  of  smoke."  Though  the  soil  was  naturally  fruitful, 
yet  the  poverty  of  the  people  was  great.  "  They  are,"  he  adds, 
"  remarkably  gross  and  remarkably  neglected  ;  I  know  not  if  they 
are  visited  by  any  minister.  The  island,  which  was  once  the 
metropolis  of  learning  and  piety,  has  now  no  school  for  education 
nor  temple  for  worship,  only  two  inhabitants  that  can  speak 
English,  and  not  one  that  can  write  or  read."  The  population  was 
probably  not  less  than  four  hundred  souls.1  Sacheverell,  who  was 
there  in  1688,  mentions  a  class  of  "  hereditary  servants.  They  are," 
he  adds,  "  miserably  poor.  They  seem  an  innocent,  simple  people, 
ignorant  and  devout ;  and  though  they  have  no  minister,  they 
constantly  assemble  in  the  great  church  on  Sundays,  where  they 
spend  most  part  of  the  day  in  private  devotions."  !  According  to 
Pennant  they  were  "  the  most  stupid  and  the  most  lazy  of  all  the 
islanders."  "  They  used,"  he  says,  "  the  Chapel  of  the  Nunnery  as 
a  cow-shed  ;  the  floor  was  covered  some  feet  thick  with  dung,  for 
they  were  too  lazy  to  remove  this  fine  manure,  the  collection  of  a 
century,  to  enrich  their  grounds." :  Hoswell,  however,  gives  a 
much  better  report.  "  They  are  industrious,"  he  says,  "  and  make 
their  own  woollen  and  linen  cloth  ;  and  they  brew  a  good  deal  of 
beer,  which  we  did  not  find  in  any  of  the  other  islands."  In  July, 
1798,  Dr.  Garnett  and  his  companion,  Mr.  Watts,  the  painter, 
passed  a  night  in  the  public-house.  The  floor  of  their  chamber 
•was  liquid  mud  ;  the  rain  fell  on  their  beds.  For  fellow-lodgers 
they  had  several  chickens,  a  tame  lamb,  a  dog,  some  cats,  and  two 
or  three  pigs.  Next  morning  they  invited  the  schoolmaster  to 
breakfast,  and  found  that  the  inn  could  boast  of  only  two  tea-cups 
and  one  spoon,  and  that  of  wood.'  Sir  Walter  Scott,  who  visited 
lona  in  1810  mentions  "the  squalid  and  dejected  poverty  of  the 

1  See  Johnson's   Works,  ix.    149.      IVnnanl,  -  An  Account  of  the  Isle  ef  Man,  f.  136. 

however,   gives  the   number   of  inhabitants   as  :l  1'ennant's  '/'our,  ed.  1774,  pp.  243,  246. 

only  one  hundred  and  fifty.  Pennant's  Tour,  '  T.  Garnett's  Observations,  &<:.,  i.  244,  265. 
ed.  1774,  p.  243. 


230  I  UNA'S    PAST   AND   PRESENT. 

inhabitants—the  most  wretched  people  he  had  anywhere  seen."  ' 
With  such  houses  and  such  people  Sir  Allan  Macleane  certainly 
did  wisely  in  choosing  a  barn  for  the  lodgings  of  himself  and  his  two 
friends.  "  Some  good  hay,"  writes  Boswell,  "  was  strewed  at  one 
end  of  it,  to  form  a  bed  for  us,  upon  which  we  lay  with  our  clothes 
on  ;  and  we  were  furnished  with  blankets  from  the  village.  Each 
of  us  had  a  portmanteau  for  a  pillow.  When  I  awaked  in  the 
morning,  and  looked  round  me,  I  could  not  help  smiling  at  the 
idea  of  the  chief  of  the  Macleanes,  the  great  English  Moralist, 
and  myself,  lying  thus  extended  in  such  a  situation." 

The  smile  might  have  passed  into  a  sigh,  had  Boswell  contrasted 
the  splendours  of  lona's  past  with  the  meanness  of  her  present  lot. 

They  had  come  to 

"  Where,  beneath  the  showery  west, 
The  mighty  kings  of  three  fair  realms  arc  laid." 

Like  the  pilgrim 

"  From  the  Blue  Mountains,  or  Ontario's  Lake," 
amidst  the  ruins  of  fallen  greatness  and  fallen  learning  they  had 

sought 

"  Some  peasant's  homely  shed, 
Who  toils  unconscious  of  the  mighty  dead." 

Whether  with  Johnson  among  "  those  illustrious  ruins,"  we 
look  upon  lona  as  the  instructress  of  the  west,  or  with  Gibbon  as 
the  island  whence  was  "  diffused  over  the  northern  regions  a  doubt- 
ful ray  of  science  and  superstition,"  in  either  case  it  is  surely 
a  spot  where  we  are  forced  to  pause,  and  with  pensive  mind 
"revolve  the  sad  vicissitude  of  things."  I  must  not,  however,  be 
unjust  to  Boswell.  It  was  his  enthusiasm  which  had  led  them 
hither.  It  was  he  who  had  longed  to  survey  lona.  "  I,"  said 
Johnson,  "though  less  eager  did  not  oppose  him."  To  him  then 
we  owe  that  splendid  passage  in  which  the  great  Englishman 
celebrates  the  power  exerted  over  the  mind  by  the  sight  of  places 
where  noble  deeds  were  done,  and  noble  lives  were  lived. 

"  We  were  now  treading  that  illustrious  Island,  which  was  once  the  luminary  of 
the  Caledonian  regions,  whence  savage  clans  and  roving  barbarians  derived  the 
benefits  of  knowledge,  and  the  blessings  of  religion.  To  abstract  the  mind  from  all 
local  emotion  would  be  impossible,  if  it  were  endeavoured,  and  would  be  foolish  if 
it  were  possible.  Whatever  withdraws  us  from  the  power  of  our  senses,  whatever 
makes  the  past,  the  distant,  or  the  future,  predominate  over  the  present,  advances  us 
in  the  dignity  of  thinking  beings.  Far  from  me,  and  from  my  friends,  be  such  frigid 

1  Lockhait's  Life  of  Scott,  iii.  285;  iv.  324. 


1ON.YS    PAST  AND    PRESENT. 


231 


philosophy  as  may  conduct  us  indifferent  and  unmoved  over  any  ground  which  has 
been  dignified  by  wisdom,  bravery,  or  virtue.  That  man  is  little  to  be  envied, 
whose  patriotism  would  not  gain  force  upon  the  plain  of  Marathon,  or  whose  piety 
would  not  grow  warmer  among  the  ruins  of  lona  !  " 

Boswell  surely  not  without  good  reason  maintains  that  "  had 
their  tour  produced  nothing  else  but  this  sublime  passage  the 
world  must  have  acknowledged  that  it  was  not  made  in  vain." 


RUINS   IN    IONA. 


THE  SOUTHERN  COAST  OF  MULL  AND  LOCHBUY 
(OCTOBER  20-22). 

Sailing  from  lona  about  midday  on  Wednesday,  October  20, 
our  travellers  landed  in  the  evening  on  the  southern  coast  of  Mull, 
near  the  house  of  the  Rev.  Neal  Macleod,  who  gave  them  lodgings 
for  the  night.  Johnson  oddly  described  him  as  "  the  cleanest- 
headed  man  that  he  had  met  with  in  the  Western  Islands."  The 
talk  ran  on  English  statesmen.  Here  it  was  that  Johnson  called 
Mr.  Pitt  a  meteor,  and  Sir  Robert  Walpole  a  fixed  star,  and  main- 


232  C.LOOM    AND    DESOLATION. 

tained  that  Pultenev  was  <is  paltry  a  fellow  as  could  be.    Continuing 

j  1  J  O 

their  journey  on  the  morrow,  they  dined  at  the  house  of  a  physician, 
"  who  was  so  much  struck  with  the  uncommon  conversation  of 
Johnson,  that  he  observed  to  Boswell,  '  I  his  man  is  just  a  hogs- 
head of  sense.'  "  This  doctor's  practice  could  scarcely  have  been 
very  lucrative,  for  there  came  a  time  when  he  hail  no  successor. 
Garnett  writing  of  Mull  at  the  end  of  the  century,  says,  "  There  is 
at  present  no  medical  man  in  the  island  ;  the  nearest  surgeon  of 
eminence  is  at  Inverary."1  The  distance  from  that  town  to  the 


CARSAir,    ARCHES:    MULL. 


farthest  points  in  Mull,  as  the  crow  flies,  is  not  less  than  sixty  miles, 
but  by  the  route  taken  would  be  perhaps  one  hundred.  In  the 
afternoon  our  travellers  rode,  writes  Boswell,  "  through  what 
appeared  to  me  the  most  gloomy  and  desolate  country  I  had  ever 
beheld."  "It  was,"  said  Johnson,  "a  country  of  such  gloomy 
desolation  that  Mr.  Boswell  thought  no  part  of  the  Highlands 
equally  terrific."  Faujas  Saint-Fond,  a  few  years  later,  describes 
Mull  as  a  country  "  without  a  single  road,  without  a  single  tree, 
where  the  mountains  have  heather  for  their  only  covering."2 
Amidst  the  beautiful  plantations  and  the  fine  trees  with  which  this 


Dr.  T.  Garnett's  Observations,  i2rr. ,  i.  148. 


c  ni  AngU-tcrre,  &<:.,  ii.  86. 


ID 

CO 

X 

o 

o 


THK    APPROACH    TO    LOCHBUY.  233 

island  is  now  in  so  many  parts  adorned,  the  modern  tourist  fails  to 

recognize   the    truthfulness    of  these   gloomy    descriptions.       Our 

travellers  were  to  spend  the  night  at  Moy,  the  seat  of  the  Laird  of 

Lochbuy,1  at  the  head  of  the  fine  loch  from  which  he  takes  his  title. 

I  approached  it  from  the  north-eastern  side  of  the  island,  having 

driven  over  from  Craignure,  a  little  port  in   the   Sound  of  Mull. 

Perhaps  the  country  through  which   I   passed  was  naturally  finer 

than  that  which  they  had  traversed  in  coming  from  the  south-west. 

Perhaps,  on  the  other  hand,  the  difference  was  chiefly  due  to  the 

trees  and  to  better  weather.      Certainly  the  long  drive,  though   in 

places  dreary,  was  for  a  great  part  of  the  road  on  a  bright,  windy 

summer  day,  one  of  remarkable  beauty.      I  passed  lochs  of  the  sea 

with  the  waves   tossing,   the  sea-fowl    hovering  and   settling    and 

screaming,  great  herons  standing  on   the  shore,  and  the  sea- trout 

leaping  in  the  waters.     But  far  more  beautiful  was  Loch  Disk,  an 

inland  lake  embosomed  among  the  mountains,  its  steep  shores  covered 

with  trees.    The  strong  wind  was  driving  the  scud  like  dust  over  the 

face    of  its   dark   waters.      As    I    drew    near    Lochbuy,    I    caught 

sight  of  the  ivy-mantled  tower  across  a  meadow,  where  the  mowers 

were  cutting  the  grass,  and  the  hay-makers  were  tossing  it  out  to 

the  sun  and  wind.      Beyond  the  castle  there  was  a  broad  stretch  of 

white  sand  ;  a  small  vessel  lay  at  anchor,  ready  at  the  next  tide  to 

run  ashore  and  discharge  the  hamlet's  winter  stock  of  coal.     Tall 

trunks   of  fir-trees  were   lying    near   the   water's  edge  ready  for 

shipping.     At  the  head  of  the  loch  are  two  beautiful  bays,  each 

with  its  pastures  and  tilled  lands,  its  low-wooded  heights  and  its 

lofty  circling  mountains,  each  facing  the  south-west  and  sheltered 

from  the  cold  winds.     Between   these  two   bays  rise   fine  crags, 

hidden  in  places  beneath  hazels  and  ivy.     For  most  of  the  year  it 

is   a   land    streaming   with    waterfalls.      In   beautiful  ravines,    half 

hidden  by  the  trees,  wild  cascades  rush  down,  swollen  by  the  storms 

that  have  burst  on  the  mountains  ;  but  at  the  time  of  my  visit  their 

voice  was  hushed  by  the  long  drought.     So  dry   had  the  springs 

become  in  some  places,  that  I  was  told  at  Lochbuy  that  to  one  of 

the  neighbouring  islands  water  had  to  be  carried  in  boats. 

Close  to  the  ruined  Castle  stood  "  the  mansion,  not  very 
spacious  or  splendid,"  where  Macleane  of  Lochbuy,  "  a  true 'High- 
land laird,  rough  and  haughty,  and  tenacious  of  his  dignity," 
entertained  our  travellers. 

1  The  name  is  now  commonly  written  Lochbuie. 
H    H 


234  THE    LAIRD    OF    LOCH  BUY. 

"  \Ve  had  heard  much,"  writes  Boswell,  "of  Lochbuy's  being  a  great  roaring 
braggadocio,  a  kind  of  Sir  John  Kalstaff,  both  in  si/.e  and  manners;  but  we  found 
that  they  had  swelled  him  up  to  a  fictitious  sue,  and  clothed  him  with  imaginary 
qualities.  Col's  idea  of  him  was  equally  extravagant,  though  very  different:  he  told 
us  he  was  quite  a  Don  Quixote;  and  said,  he  would  give  a  great  deal  to  see  him 
and  Dr.  Johnson  together.  The  truth  is,  that  Lochbuy  proved  to  be  only  a.  bluff, 
comely,  noisy,  old  gentleman,  proud  of  his  hereditary  consequence,  and  a  very 
hearty  and  hospitable  landlord.  Lady  Lochbuy  was  sister  to  Sir  Allan  Macleane, 
but  much  older.  He  said  to  me,  'They  are  quite  Antediluvians.'  Being  told  that 
Dr.  Johnson  did  not  hear  well,  Lochbuy  bawled  out  to  him,  'Are  you  of  the 
Johnstons  of  Glencro,  or  of  Ardnamurchan?  '  Dr.  Johnson  gave  him  a  significant 
look,  but  made  no  answer;  and  I  told  Lochbuy  that  he  was  not  Johns/cw,  but 
Johnttw,  and  that  he  was  an  Englishman."  ! 

According  to  Sir  Walter  Scott,  Boswell  misapprehended  Loch- 
buy's  meaning. 

"There  are,"  he  says,  "two  septs  of  the  powerful  clan  of  M'Donald,  who  are 
called  Mac-Ian,  that  isjohn's-son;  and  as  Highlanders  often  translate  their  names 
when  they  go  to  the  Lowlands,  --as  Gregor-son  for  Mac-Gregor,  Farquhar-son  for 
Mac-Farquhar, — Lochbuy  supposed  that  Dr.  Johnson  might  be  one  of  the  Mac-Ians 
of  Ardnamurchan,  or  of  Glencro.  Boswell's  explanation  was  nothing  to  the  purpose. 
The  Johnstons  are  a  clan  distinguished  in  Scottish  border  history,  and  as  brave  as 
any  Highland  clan  that  ever  wore  brogues;  but  they  lay  entirely  out  of  Lochbuy's 
knowledge — nor  was  he  thinking  of  them." 

I  have  little  doubt,  however,  that  whatever  Lochbuy  was 
thinking  of  he  pronounced  the  name  Johnston.  In  this  both 
Boswell  and  Johnson  agree.  This  too  was  the  name  which  I 
commonly  found  given  to  the  great  man  in  the  Highlands  and 
Lowlands  alike. 

"  The  following  day  (writes  Boswell)  we  surveyed  the  old  castle,  in  the  pit  or 
dungeon  of  which  Lochbuy  had  some  years  before  taken  upon  him  to  imprison 
several  persons  ;  and  though  he  had  been  fined  in  a  considerable  sum  by  the  Court 
of  Justiciary,  he  was  so  little  affected  by  it,  that  while  we  were  examining  the 
dungeon,  he  said  to  me,  with  a  smile,  '  Your  father  knows  something  of  this ; ' 
(alluding  to  my  father's  having  sat  as  one  of  the  judges  on  his  trial).  Sir  Allan 
whispered  me,  that  the  laird  could  not  be  persuaded  that  he  had  lost  his  heritable 
jurisdiction." 

Up  to  the  year  1747  "  in  the  Highlands,"  to  quote  Johnson's 
words,  "some  great  lords  had  an  hereditary  jurisdiction  over 
counties,  and  some  chieftains  over  their  own  lands."  This  subjection 
of  the  people  to  their  chiefs  was  rightly  regarded  as  one  of  the  main 
sources  of  the  rebellions  of  1715  and  1745.  He  who  by  law  was 
privileged  to  keep  a  pit,  a  dungeon,  and  a  gallows,  was  not  likely 
to  meet  with  much  resistance  when  he  summoned  his  people  to 
follow  him  to  the  field.  Advantage  was  therefore  taken  of  the 

1  See  ante,  p.  5. 


HEREDITARY   JURISDICTIONS.  235 

defeat  of  the  clansmen  at  Culloden,  "  to  crush  all  the  Local  Courts 
and  to  extend  the  general  benetits  of  equal  law  to  the  low  and  the 
high,  in  the  deepest  recesses  and  obscurest  corners."  The  heritable 
jurisdiction  had  been  divided  into  regalities,  ordinary  baronies,  and 
baronies  which  had  the  right  of  pit  and  gallows. 

"The  lowest  criminal  jurisdiction,"  says  a  Scotch  legal  author,  "is  what  we  call 
for  Battery  and  Bloodwits,  viz.,  Offences  whereby  a  party  is  beaten,  or  blood  drawn 
of  him,  but  no  greater  harm  done  ;  and  this  is  implied  in  all  Baronies.  But  if  the 
erection  of  the  Barony  contain  a  power  of  Pit  and  Gallows,  it  imports  a  jurisdiction 
in  ordinary  capital  cases,  but  not  in  the  excepted  crimes,  which  go  under  the  name 
of  the  Four  Pleas  of  tlie  Croit'n,  vis.,  Murder,  Robbery,  Rape,  and  wilful  Fire- 
raising.  It  is  so  called  from  the  manner  of  execution  of  criminals,  viz.,  by  hanging 
the  men  upon  the  Gallows  or  Gibbet,  and  drowning  the  women,  sentenced  in  a 
capital  crime,  in  a  pit,  it  not  being  thought  decent  of  old  to  hang  them."  ' 

In  old  law  Latin  this  right  was  known  under  the  name  of 
furca  et  fossa.2  A  person  invested  with  the  jurisdiction  of  a 
regality  had  power  also  in  the  Four  Pleas  of  the  Crown.  "  The 
sentences  in  civil  cases  are  subject  to  the  review  of  the  Lords  of 
Session,  and  in  criminal  to  the  Court  of  Justiciary.  In  criminal 
trials  thirty  days  were  allowed  before  execution  of  the  sentence  on 
this  [the  southern]  side  of  the  Forth,  and  forty  on  the  other." 
From  this  appeal  there  was  one  regality  which  was  exempt.  The 
jurisdiction  of  the  Duke  of  Argyle  was  absolute  even  in  cases  of 
life  and  death.  From  his  sentences  there  was  no  appeal.'1  Each 
barony  had  its  Gallows  Hill,  and  its  dempster  or  hangman.4 
Pennant,  in  1772,  saw  "on  a  little  flat  hill  near  the  village  of 
Kilarow  in  Islay  the  remains  of  the  gallows."'  At  Dunvegan  men 
had  been  hanged  on  the  sentence  of  the  laird,  so  late  as  1 740. 
No  doubt  this  power  was  sometimes  most  oppressively  exercised. 
A  chief  who  lived  near  Inverness  was  charged  with  having  rid 
himself  at  a  profit  of  men  on  his  estate  who  had  given  him  trouble. 
He  charged  them  with  theft,  threatened  them  with  the  gallows, 
and  so  brought  them  "to  sign  a  contract  for  their  banishment." 
They  were  then  put  on  board  a  ship  bound  to  the  West  Indies, 
"the  master  paying  so  much  a  head  for  them.'"  In  other  words, 

1  An  Essay  upon  Feudal  Holdings,  Superior!-  3  An  Essay  upon  Feudal  Holdings,  &v.,  pp. 

lies,   and  Hereditary  Jurisdictions  in  Scotland.  18,  28. 

London,  1747,  p.  16.  '  Duiibar's  Social  Life,  &*c.,  ii.  141. 

*  "  Baro  dicitur  qui  gladii  potestatem  habet,  5  Pennant's  Voyage  to  the  Hebrides,  *&,  i?74> 

id   est   imperium   merum  ;  apud    nos    furca;  et  p.  221. 

fossae  nomine  significamus." — Craig,  De  Feudis,  °  Letters  from  a  Gentleman  in  the  North  of 

i.    12,   1 6,  quoted  in  Arnot's  History  of  Edin-  Scotland,  i.  54- 
burgh,  p.  224. 


2?6  IIKRKDITARY    JURISDICTIONS. 

they  were  sold  for  slaves,  if  not  for  life,  at  all  events  for  a  certain 
number  of  years. 

No  chancre  had  been  made  by  the  Act  of  Union  of  1706,  for  it 

o  * 

was  expressly  provided  in  it  that  all  these  heritable  jurisdictions 
"should  be  reserved  to  the  owners  as  rights  and  property."  When 
in  i  747  these  powers  had  been  swept  away,  two  unhappy  classes  of 
men  were  excepted  from  the  full  benefit  of  the  Act.  The  workers  in 
any  kind  of  mine:  or  in  salt-works  were  to  remain  as  they  had 
hitherto  been — serfs  for  life.  These  men  were  found  only  in  the 
Lowlands,  chiefly  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Edinburgh.  Neverthe- 
less, even  they  were  not  left  altogether  without  relief.  "  All 
jurisdiction  in  any  case  inferring  the  loss  of  life  or  demembration, 
was  abrogated." :  A  collier  or  a  salter  therefore  could  no  longer 
be  hanged  or  drowned,  or  even  mangled  by  his  master.  It  was 
not  till  the  last  year  of  the  century  that  they  were  finally  and 
fully  freed.  One  of  these  emancipated  serfs  lived  till  the  year 
1844:' 

The   Act   of   1747   not  only   abolished   jurisdictions,   but    also 

alleviated  the  prisoner's  lot.     Till  it  was  passed,  "all  over  Scotland 

pits  were  accounted  legal   prisons  for  thieves  and  other   meaner 

criminals."'     Lady  Margaret  Bellenden   in  Old  Mortality  praises 

her  pit.     "  It  is  not  more  than  two  stories  beneath  ground,"  she 

says,  "  so  it  cannot  be  unwholesome,  especially  as  I  rather  believe 

there  is  somewhere  an  opening  to  the  outer  air."'      But  henceforth 

—so  the  Act  ran — "the  prison  shall  have  such  windows  or  grates, 

as  that  it  may  be  practicable  for  any  friend  of  the  prisoner  to  visit, 

see,  and  converse  with  him  when  he  shall  be  so  minded."        In  out 

of  the  way  places,  where  there  were  no  justices  within  reach,  the 

laird,   no  doubt,  to    some  extent,   continued    to  exercise  his    old 

powers.     Thus  in  Col,  more  than  sixteen  years  after  the  Act  was 

passed,  the  laird  put  a  woman  into  "  the  family  prison  "  for  theft.7 

There  have  been  men  who  regarded,  or  affected  to  regard  with 

indignation  the    abolition  of  these    injurious    hereditary   powers. 

"  By    the  nation  at    large,"    writes    Dr.    Robert    Chambers,    "  the 

measure  was  contemplated  as  a  last  stab  to  the  independence  of 

Scotland,  previously  almost  destroyed  by  the  Union."'      There  is 

1  Smollett's  History  of  England,  ii.  79.  5   Old  Mortality,  eel.  1860,  ii.  14. 

2  An  Act  for  Abolishing  the  Heritable  fun's-  c  An  Act  for  Abolishing,  &t.,  p.  17. 
dictions,  1747,  p.  19.  7  Boswell'sy0/;«.K>H,  v.  292. 

3  Boswell's_/0//«r0H,  iii.  202,  n.  \.  *  History  of  the  Rebellion   in    Scotland,   ed. 
*  Scotland  and  Scotsmen,  iS-v.,  11.94.                        '827,  ii.  293. 


LOCHHUY    BKFORE    THE   COURT.  237 

happily  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  nation  at  large  was  at  any 
period  of  its  history  a  set  of  sentimental  fools. 

To  most  of  the  chiefs  this  loss  of  their  ancient  jurisdictions 
must  have  come  as  a  terrible  shock.  Lochbuy,  as  has  been  seen, 
had  refused  to  believe  it,  and  so  had  got  into  trouble  with  the 
Court  of  Justiciary.  After  some  search  I  was  fortunate  enough  to 
discover  a  report  of  his  case.  He  had,  as  I  was  informed  by  his 
descendant,  the  present  laird,  with  the  help  of  his  piper  let  down  a 
man  into  the  pit.  But  here,  for  once,  tradition  has  not  been  guilty 
of  amplification.  Aided  by  his  servant,  his  piper  and  son,  the  inn- 
keeper in  Moy,  and  two  other  tenants,  he  had  seized  two  men  of 
the  name  of  Maclean,  and  had  imprisoned  them  two  days  "  in  an 
old  ruinous  castle."  Two  of  the  accused  did  not  appear  to  the 
indictment,  "  they  were  therefore  fugitated  (outlawed),  and  their 
moveables  escheated  to  the  king  for  their  contempt."  The  trial 
took  place  on  August  15,  1759.  It  lasted  twelve  hours.  "The 
jury  (of  which  a  majority  was  landed  gentlemen)  returned  their 
verdict  unanimously,  finding  the  pannels  (prisoners  at  the  bar) 
guilty  ;  but  verbally  recommending  the  four  servants  and  tenants 
to  the  mercy  of  the  court,  it  appearing  that  what  they  did  was  by 
order  of  Lochbuy,  their  master.  The  lords  pronounced  sentence, 
decerning  Lochbuy  in  .£180  sterling  of  expenses  and  damages  to 
the  private  prosecutors,  and  500  marks  Scots  (about  ^27)  of 
fine  ;  and  condemning  the  whole  pannels  to  seventeen  clays'  im- 
prisonment." ' 

Lochbuy  had  no  doubt  been  the  more  unwilling  to  believe  in  the 
abolition  of  his  jurisdiction  as  he  had,  it  should  seem,  no  share  in 
that  "valuable  consideration  in  money  which  was  granted  to  every 
nobleman  and  petty  baron  who  was  thus  deprived  of  one  part  of 
his  inheritance." '  On  what  principle  of  justice  this  compensation 
was  given  is  not  clear,  unless  we  agree  with  Johnson  in  his  asser- 
tion that  "  those  who  have  long  enjoyed  dignity  and  power  ought 
not  to  lose  it  without  some  equivalent." 3  Professor  Thorold 
Rogers  informs  me  that  we  have  here,  he  believes,  the  first 
instance  in  our  history  where  compensation  is  paid  by  the  country 
at  large  for  the  vested  interests  of  a  class.  The  claims  which  were 
made  were  excessive,  partly  no  doubt  in  the  hope  that  when  much 
was  demanded  at  all  events  something  would  be  given,  but  partly, 

1  Scots  Magazine,  1759,  p.  441.  2  Smollett's  History  of  England,  in.  206. 

3  Johnson's  \Vorks,  ix.  91. 


238  LOCHHUV    CASTLE. 

it  was  said,  with  the  intention  of  "  obstructing  the  Act,  and  raising 
discontents  in  the  country."  The  total  sum  asked  for  was 
.£587,000,  but  only  ,£152,000  was  granted.  Among  the  claimants 
I  found  "  Maclean  of  Lochbuie,  Bailie  of  the  Bailiery  of  Morovis 
and  Mulerois,  .£500."  His  name  does  not  appear  among  the  list 
of  those  whose  claims  were  allowed.2 

Though  in  i  759  the  castle  was  described  as  ruinous,  neverthe- 
less it  had  been  inhabited  by  the  laird  a  few  years  earlier.  Over 
the  entrance  of  the  house  in  which  he  received  Johnson  is  in- 
scribed :  "  Hxc  clomus  [a  word  effaced]  erat  per  Johannem  M'Laine 
De  Lochbuy  Anno  Dom.  1752."  It  has,  in  its  turn,  given  way  to 
a  more  modern  mansion,  and  has  been  converted  into  stables, 
coach-houses,  and  hay-lofts.  The  castle  was  built  on  the  edge  of 
the  sea,  "  four-square  to  all  the  winds  that  blew."  The  walls,  nine 
or  ten  feet  thick,  "  are  probably  as  old  as  the  fourteenth  century,  but 
the  upper  part  seems  to  have  been  modified  in  the  seventeenth."3 
The  ivy  has  climbed  up  to  the  top,  nevertheless  much  of  the  stone- 
work is  still  seen.  It  would  be  a  pity  if  it  were  suffered  to  cover 
the  walls  on  all  sides.  Hard  by  a  little  stream  shaded  with  trees 
makes  its  way  into  the  loch.  To  the  north-west  rises  the  steep 
hill  of  Dun  Buy.  "  Buy  in  Erse,"  says  Boswell,  "  signifies  yellow. 
The  hill  being  of  a  yellowish  hue,  has  the  epithet  of  buy."  This 
hue  I  altogether  failed  to  discover;  perhaps  it  is  only  seen  in  the 
autumn.  On  the  bright  summer's  day  in  which  I  saw  the  castle,  it 
seemed  to  be  almost  unsurpassed  in  the  pleasantness  of  its  seat. 
Tall  trees  grew  near  it,  their  leaves  rustling  in  the  wind,  and  the 
lights  and  shadows  dancing  on  the  ground  as  the  branches  swayed 
to  and  fro,  while  in  front  lay  the  loch  with  its  foaming  waves.  The 
old  ruin  looked  as  if  it  had  been  set  there  to  add  to  the  beauty  of 
the  scene,  not  for  a  place  where  lairds  and  their  pipers  should  let 
down  luckless  folk  into  dismal  pits.  In  the  inside  there  was  gloom 
enough.  A  few  well-worn  stone  steps  lead  up  to  the  entrance. 
The  strong  old  door  studded  with  iron  nails  which  had  withstood 
the  storms  of  many  a  long  year,  has  at  length  yielded  to  time,  and 
been  replaced.  Behind  it  is  an  iron  grate  secured  by  bolts  and  by 
an  oaken  bar  that  is  drawn  forth  from  a  hole  in  the  wall.  Passing 
on  I  went  into  a  gloomy  vault  known  as  the  store-room.  Not  a 

'  Marchmont  Papers,  \.  234,  248.  3  Macgibbon  and  Ross's  Architecture  of  Scot- 

'2  Scots  Magazine,  1747,  p.  587,  and  1748,  p.       land,  iii.  127. 
'36. 


LOCH  BUY   CASTLE.  239 

ray  of  light  entered  save  by  the  open  door.  In  the  rocky  floor 
there  is  a  shallow  well,  which  in  the  driest  seasons  is  always  full 
of  water.  The  arched  roof  is  built  of  huge  boulders  gathered  from 
the  beach,  the  spaces  between  being  filled  up  with  thin  layers  of 
stone  after  the  fashion  of  Roman  masonry.  A  dark  staircase  in 
the  thickness  of  the  wall  leads  up  through  another  strong  door  to  a 
second  vaulted  chamber,  dimly  lighted  by  narrow  slits  at  the  end 
of  two  slanting  recesses,  on  each  side  of  which  are  stone  benches. 
This  I  was  told  was  the  court-room  or  judgment-hall.  Opening 
out  of  it  on  one  side  is  a  very  small  chamber,  in  which  was  a  kind 
of  cupboard,  a  hiding-place  perhaps  for  title-deeds  and  plate,  for  it 
could  be  so  closed  with  stones  as  to  look  like  solid  wall.  On  the 
other  side  is  the  door  to  the  dungeon,  dismal  enough,  but  not  so 
dismal  as  the  pit  below,  with  its  well  in  which  women  could  be 
put  to  death  with  decency.  On  either  side  of  the  mouth  of  the 
well  is  a  narrow  ledge  some  eighteen  inches  wide,  but  not  long 
enough  to  allow  the  prisoner  to  stretch  himself  at  full  length.  On 
the  floor  above  the  court-room  was  the  kitchen,  with  walls  more 
than  seven  feet  thick.  It  occupied  the  whole  of  the  story.  On 
the  freestone  joints  of  the  great  hearth  can  be  seen  the  deep 
marks  made  by  sharpening  knives.  Above  the  kitchen  was  the 
family  sitting-room,  which  was  entered  from  a  gallery  running  all 
round  it  outside,  and  built  in  the  overhanging  part  of  the  tower. 
Here  at  length  I  arrived  at  what  may  be  called  the  front  door. 
There  was  some  attempt  at  ornament  in  the  carving  on  the  stones 
at  the  top  and  each  side  of  the  doorway.  There  was,  moreover, 
light  enough  to  see  it  clearly,  for  the  gallery  can  boast  of  fair-sized 
windows.  From  one  of  them  the  laird  could  look  out  on  the 
Hangman's  Hill,  about  a  third  of  a  mile  off,  now  covered  with  fir- 
trees,  but  then  bare.  Some  stones  remain,  in  which  the  gallows 
were  set  up.  The  view  from  the  castle,  except  when  a  hanging 
was  going  on,  must  on  a  fine  day  have  been  always  beautiful,  even 
when  the  country  was  bare  of  trees.  To  the  north  and  east  they 
looked  over  fields,  once  yellow  every  autumn  with  grain,  but  now 
pleasant  meadow-land,  shut  in  with  hills  and  mountains  down 
whose  sides  in  rainy  weather  rivers  stream  and  cascades  leap. 
From  one  corner  of  the  gallery  a  turret  projects  with  two  narrow 
windows,  where  the  watchman  could  see  anyone  approaching  from 
the  side  of  the  land.  Not  far  from  it  was  "the  whispering  hole," 
where,  by  removing  a  stone  which  exactly  fits  into  an  opening,  a 


24o  THE    OLD    LAIRD    AND    THE    NEW. 

suspicious  laird  could  overhear  the  talk  in  the  kitchen  beneath. 
Above  the  sitting-room  was  another  story  divided  into  small  rooms, 
the  bed-chamber  of  the  family.  So  solidly  had  the  roof  been  built, 
that  unrepaired  it  withstood  all  the  blasts  of  heaven,  till  that 
terrible  storm  burst  upon  it  and  brought  it  clown,  which  swept 
away  the  Tay  Bridge. 

In  these  two  upper  stories  there  were,  no  doubt,  cheerful  rooms, 
but  they  were  reached  through  gloomy  doors  and  iron  grates,  UD 
dark  staircases,  with  rough  sides  and  well-worn  steps,  past  the 
gloomy  dungeon.  Everything  shows  signs  of  danger  and  alarm. 
"  It  was  sufficient  for  a  Laird  of  the  Hebrides,"  as  Johnson  says, 
"  if  he  had  a  strong  house  in  which  he  could  hide  his  wife  and 
children  from  the  next  clan."  At  the  present  day,  as  I  was  told 
by  my  guide,  no  one  thinks  of  locking  his  door  at  night-time.  My 
bag  and  great-coat  and  travelling  rug  were  left  in  perfect  safety 
for  a  couple  of  hours  by  the  road-side  while  I  wandered  about.  Of 
the  modern  mansion  Johnson  would  never  have  said  what  he  said 
of  the  second  house,  that  "  it  was  built  with  little  regard  to  con- 
venience, and  with  none  to  elegance  or  pleasure."  He  would  have 
been  delighted  not  only  with  it,  but  with  its  large  garden  full  of 
flowers  and  vegetables  and  fruits  that  testify  to  the  mildness  of  the 
climate.  The  peaches  ripen  on  the  walls,  though  they  do  not 
attain  to  a  large  size.  The  hot-houses  were  full  of  choice  plants, 
and  clustering  grapes.  One  bunch,  I  was  told,  had  weighed 
nearly  five  pounds.  But  there  are  far  greater  changes  than  those 
worked  by  builders  and  gardeners.  Here,  where  the  rough  old 
Laird  in  his  out-of-the-way  corner  of  the  world  used  to  rule  his 
people  with  the  help  of  gallows,  pit  and  dungeon,  I  found  a 
money-order  office,  a  savings  bank,  a  telegraph  office,  and  a  daily 
post.  There  is  a  good  school,  governed  by  a  School  Board,  and  a 
large  reading  room  where  the  dulness  of  the  long  winter  nights  is 
relieved  by  various  kinds  of  entertainments.  There  is  besides  an 
infirmary  under  the  management  of  a  qualified  nurse,  the  daughter 
of  a  medical  man,  who  has  learnt  her  art  by  some  years'  study  in  a 
hospital.  She  is  provided  with  a  chest  of  surgical  instruments  and 
a  large  stock  of  drugs.  On  her  little  pony  she  sometimes  has  to 
attend  sick  people  at  a  distance  of  eight  miles.  Forty-three  cases 
of  measles  had  lately  been  under  her  care  and  none  of  them  ended 
fatally.  There  is  a  salmon-hatching  house,  and  a  museum  both  of 
antiquities  and  natural  curiosities.  In  it  I  saw  a  thumbscrew,  with  an 


HIGHLAND    FUNKRALS.  241 

iron  ring  at  one  end  through  which  a  thong  could  be  passed.  Used  in 
this  way  it  would  have  served  much  the  same  purpose  as  hand-cuffs. 
I  looked  with  interest  on  an  old  Highland  spinning-wheel,  the  gift 
of  my  intelligent  and  friendly  guide,  Mr.  Angus  Black.  It  had 
belonged  to  his  grandmother.  He  had  given  it,  he  said,  "to  be 
kept  there  as  a  present  for  ages  and  generations  to  come."  When 
a  little  before  I  drank  water  from  "  the  well  by  the  river  side," 
such  was  the  name  of  the  spring  in  Gaelic,  he  told  me  that  it  was 
the  spring  "  whence  the  Lairds  had  drunk  for  ages  and  generations 
past."  One  thing  I  in  vain  looked  for  in  the  Museum.  Boswell 
had  been  told  much  of  a  war-saddle,  on  which  Lochbtiy,  "  that 
reputed  Don  Quixote,  used  to  be  mounted  ;  but  we  did  not  see  it," 
he  adds,  "  for  the  young  Laird  had  applied  it  to  a  less  noble  pur- 
pose, having  taken  it  to  Falkirk  Fair  with  a  drove  of  black  cattle'' 
He  took  it  much  farther — to  America,  whither  he  went  with  his 
regiment.  There  he  lost  his  life  in  a  duel,  and  it  was  lost  too. 
Perhaps  it  is  preserved  as  a  curiosity  in  some  collection  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

I  was  shown  also  at  a  short  distance  eastwards  from  the  Castle,  at 
the  bottom  of  a  crag  by  the  roadside,  a  place  known  as  the  Cheese 
Cave.  Here  at  every  funeral  the  refreshments  used  to  be  placed 
for  the  mourners,  who  had  often  come  twenty  miles  across  the 
hills.  In  former  days,  when  there  were  more  men  and  fewer  sheep 
some  hundreds  would  assemble.  "  Two  old  respectable  friends 
were  left  behind  to  take  care  of  the  food  and  drink.  When  the 
people  came  back  from  the  grave-yard  they  refreshed  themselves. 
I  have  seen  them,"  continued  my  guide,  "  sitting  on  these  rocks  by 
the  cave  having  their  luncheon."  Ramsay  of  Ochtertyre  tells  how 
"  the  women  of  each  valley  through  which  the  funeral  passed 
joined  in  the  procession,  but  they  attended  but  part  of  the  way 
and  then  returned.  The  whole  company  seemed  to  be  running ; 
and  wherever  they  rested  small  cairns  or  heaps  of  stones  were 
raised  to  commemorate  the  corpse  having  halted  on  that  spot."  ' 
These  heaps  were  pointed  out  to  us  on  the  side  of  Rattachan  as 
we  drove  down  to  Glenelg.  The  silence  of  the  Scotch  funeral 
shocked  Wesley,  who  recorded  on  May  20,  1774  :  "When  I  see 
in  Scotland  a  coffin  put  into  the  earth  and  covered  up  without  a 
word  spoken,  it  reminds  me  of  what  was  spoken  concerning  Je- 
hoiakin,  '  He  shall  be  buried  with  the  burial  of  an  ass.' " 

1  Scotland  and  Scotsmen,  &(.,  ii.  430.  *  Wesley's  Journal,  iv.  14. 

I    I 


242  THE    OLD    LAIRD   AND   THE   NEW. 

It  is  not  with  accounts  of  funerals  that  I  must  take  my 
leave  of  a  place  where  I  spent  so  pleasant  a  day,  and  had  so 
hospitable  a  reception.  Here  I  saw  not  only  the  dead  past  but  a 
vigorous  and  hopeful  present.  Even  the  old  Laird,  we  are  told, 
"  was  a  very  hearty  and  hospitable  landlord, '  though  with  his 
belief  in  his  rights  of  furca  cl  fossa  he  certainly  was  an  ante- 
diluvian. His  descendant  does  not  yield  to  him  in  heartiness  and 
hospitality,  but  has  other  ways  of  guiding  his  people  than  gallows, 
pit  and  dungeon.  By  his  schools,  his  reading-room,  his  infirmary 
and  his  schemes  for  developing  the  fisheries  he  has  won  their 
affections.  An  old  lady  who  had  been  allowed  to  visit  the  Castle, 
meeting  him  by  chance  as  she  came  out,  full  of  anger  at  what  she 
had  seen,  exclaimed  :  "  You  ought,  Sir,  to  be  ashamed  of  your 
ancestors."  "  No,"  he  replied,  "  I  am  not  ashamed  of  them.  They 
led  their  lives,  and  I  lead  mine."  They  were  at  all  events  as  good 
as  the  men  of  their  time,  perhaps  better.  Old  Lochbuy  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  a  bad  fellow,  though  he  was  slow  in  learning 
that  he  had  lost  his  right  to  imprison  his  tenants.  "  May  not  a 
man  do  what  he  likes  with  his  own  ?"  we  can  fancy  him  asking  in 
the  words  used  more  than  seventy  years  later  by  an  English  duke. 
Much  as  his  descendant  has  done,  there  is  one  thing  more  which  I 
would  ask  him  to  do.  He  dreads,  no  doubt,  the  throng  of  noisy 
tourists,  but  he  might  surely  build  a  modest  inn  where  the  pensive 
wanderer  could  find  lodging,  and  enjoy  the  scenery  of  Lochbuy. 

"  The  guiltless  eye 
Commits  no  wrong,  nor  wastes  what  it  enjoys." 


OBAN  AND  INVERARY  (OCTOBER  22-26). 

On  the  morning  of  Friday,  October  22,  our  travellers  set  out 
for  the  ferry  by  which  they  were  to  cross  to  Oban — a  distance  of 
about  twelve  miles.  According  to  Dr.  Garnett,  travellers  were 
conveyed  first  to  Kerrera,  an  island  lying  off  the  mainland.  Crossing 
this  on  foot  or  horseback  they  found  awaiting  them  another  boat  to 
take  them  to  Oban.  At  Auchnacraig  in  Mull  there  was  an  inn 
about  half  a  mile  from  the  ferry.  Here  he  and  his  companion  could 
procure,  he  says,  neither  oats  for  their  horses  nor  straw  for  their 
litter.  They  wanted  to  give  them  a  mess  of  oatmeal  and  water,  but 
the  woman,  who  acted  as  hostler,  at  first  refused,  "  asking  whether 


THE  FKRRY  FROM  MULL  TO  OBAN. 


243 


it  was  proper  to  give  the  food  of  Christians  to  horses."  After 
a  long  dispute  she  yielded.  "  In  these  islands,"  he  adds,  "  horses 
seldom  taste  oats."1  "The  bottom  of  the  ferry-boat,"  says  Boswell, 
"  was  strewed  with  branches  of  trees  or  bushes  upon  which  we  sat. 
We  had  a  good  day  and  a  fine  passage,  and  in  the  evening  landed 
at  Oban,  where  we  found  a  tolerable  inn."  This  place,  which 
I  have  seen  recommended  to  cockney  tourists  in  huge  advertise- 
ments as  The  Charing  Cross  of  the  North,  was  then  a  little  hamlet. 
In  1786  Knox  found  "about  twenty  families  collected  together 
with  a  view  to  the  fisheries."  It  boasted  of  a  custom-house  and  a 


KERRKRA    ISLAND. 


post-office.  In  the  islands  no  customs  were  paid,  for  there  was  no 
officer  to  demand  them.''  Faujas  Saint-Fond  gives  a  curious 
account  of  his  stay  in  the  inn,  a  few  years  after  Johnson's  visit.  He 
would  have  got  on  very  well,  for  the  food  though  simple  was  good, 
and  his  bed  though  hard  was  clean,  had  it  not  been  for  a  performer 
on  the  bag-pipes — "  un  maudit  joueur  de  cornemuse  "  who  played 
"  une  musique  d'un  genre  nouveau,  mais  bien  terrible  pour  mon 
oreille."  The  day  of  their  arrival  this  man  had  strutted  up  and 
down  before  the  inn  with  haughty  and  warlike  looks,  and  had  stunned 
them  with  his  airs.  "  Nous  crumes  d'aborcl  que  ce  personnage  etait 
une  espece  d'insense  qui  gagnait  sa  vie  a  ce  metier."  They  were 
informed  that  he  was  an  accomplished  musician,  "  de  1'ecole 


T.  Garnctt's  Observations,  &-'(.,  i.  145. 

J  Johnson's  Works,  ix.  52. 


-  Knox's  Tour,  p.  44. 


M4 


OMAN    ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    AGO. 


ixc"  and  that  in  this  display  of  his  talents  he  was  shewing 
the  joy  which  IK:  felt  on  seeing  strangers  in  a  place  where  they 
came  so  rarely.  Touched  by  his  friendly  sentiments  Saint-Fond 
had  not  only  applauded  him,  but  had  even  pressed  on  him  "  quelques 
shelings,"  which  he  accepted,  it  almost  seemed,  merely  out  of  com- 
plaisance. Taking  pity  on  the  stranger's  solitude  he  came  and 
played  under  his  bed-room  window  in  the  silence  of  the  night.  It 
was  all  in  vain  that  Saint-  Fond  rose,  went  out  of  doors,  took  him  by 
the  hand  and  led  him  away.  "  II  revint  au  meme  moment,  me 
donnant  a  entendre  qu'il  n'ctait  point  fatigue,  et  qu'il  jouerait  toute 
la  unit  pour  me  plaire,  et  il  tint  parole." 

The:  bagpiper  was  surely  the  direct  ancestor  of  those  bands  of 
musicians  who  at  Oban  distress  the   peaceful  tourist.      But  there 

are  things  worse  even  than 
musicians.  How  melan- 
choly is  the  change  which 
has  come  over  the  whole 
scene  in  the  last  quarter  of 
a  century  !  A  beautiful  bay 
ruined  by  man  !  That  it 
should  become  thronged 
was  inevitable  ;  it  need  not 
have  been  made  vulgar.  It 
was  on  no  scene  of  over- 
grown hotels  that  Johnson 
looked,  as,  with  the  tear 

starting  in  his  eye,  he  repeated  those  fine  lines  in  which  Goldsmith 
describes  the  character  of  the  British  nation  : 

"  Stern  o'er  each  bosom  reason  holds  her  state, 

With  daring  aims  irregularly  great, 

Pride  in  their  port,  defiance  in  their  eye, 

1  see  the  lords  of  humankind  pass  by, 

Intent  on  high  designs,  a  thoughtful  band, 

My  forms  unfashion'd,  fresh  from  Nature's  hand; 

Fierce  in  their  native  hardiness  of  soul, 

True  to  imagin'd  right,  above  control, 

While  e'en  the  peasant  boasts  these  rights  to  scan, 

And  learns  to  venerate  himself  as  man." 

The  Traveller  had  formed  the  subject  of  their  talk  at  breakfast, 
and  it  was  while  Boswell  helped  Johnson  on  with  his  great-coat  that 


DIINOLI.Y   CASTI.K,    OBAN. 


Voyage  en  Anglctcrre,  &c. ,  i.  369-373. 


^  c 

2  o 

<  £ 

X  c 

O  ffi 

^  < 


O 


m 


THE    RIDE    TO   INVERARY. 


245 


he  recited  these  lines.  They  had  a  long  ride  before  them  through 
heavy  rain  to  Inverary.  Loch  Awe  they  crossed  by  the  ferry 
at  Portsonachan — "  a  pretty  wide  lake,"  as  Boswell  describes  it,  not 
knowing  its  name.  Towards  evening  they  came  to  a  good  road 
made  by  the  soldiers,  the  first  which  they  had  seen  since  they  left 
Fort  Augustus  more  than  seven  weeks  before.  Unwearied  by  his 
long  journey,  Johnson  that  same  night  wrote  a  letter  to  Mrs. 
Thrale  in  which  he  thus  describes  both  what  he  saw  and  what  he 
felt. 

"  About  ten  miles  of  this  day's  journey  were  uncommonly  amusing.  We  travelled 
with  very  little  light  in  a  storm  of  wind  and  rain  ;  we  passed  about  fifty-five  streams 
that  crossed  our  way,  and  fell  into  a  river  that,  for  a  very  great  part  of  our  road 
foamed  and  roared  beside  us.  All  the  rougher  powers  of  nature,  except  thunder, 
were  in  motion,  but  there  was  no  danger.  I  should  have  been  sorry  to  have  missed 
any  of  the  inconveniences,  to  have  had  more  light  or  less  rain,  for  their  co-operation 
crowded  the  scene  and  filled  the  mind." 

When  an  old  man  describes  such  a  journey  as  "  uncommonly 
amusing"  it  is  clear  that  he  uses  the  term  in  a  sense  which  it  does 
not  bear  at  present.  In  his  Dictionary  he  defines  amuse,  "to 
entertain  with  tranquillity ;  to  fill  with  thoughts  that  engage  the 
mind  without  distracting  it."  The  thoughts  which  this  stormy 
evening  in  late  autumn  engaged  his  mind  amidst  the  wilds  of 
Argyleshire  he  put  forth  in  a  fine  passage  when,  in  the  quietness  of 
his  study,  he  came  to  write  the  account  of  his  journey. 

"The  night  came  on  while  we  had  yet  a  great  part  of  the  way  to  go,  though  not 
so  dark  but  that  we  could  discern  the  cataracts  which  poured  down  the  hills  on  one 
side,  and  fell  into  one  general  channel,  that  ran  with  great  violence  on  the  other. 
The  wind  was  loud,  the  rain  was  heavy,  and  the  whistling  of  the  blast,  the  fall  of  the 
shower,  the  rush  of  the  cataracts,  and  the  roar  of  the  torrent,  made  a  nobler  chorus 
of  the  rough  musick  of  nature  than  it  had  ever  been  my  chance  to  hear  before." 

The  man  who  wrote  this  noble  passage  had  not  surely  that 
insensibility  to  nature  which  is  so  often  laid  to  his  charge.  He  was 
sixty-four  years  old  ;  mounted  on  a  pony  scarcely  strong  enough  to 
bear  his  weight,  he  had  had  a  long  and  hard  day's  ride  through 
wind  and  rain  ;  he  had  dined  in  his  wet  clothes  in  a  hut  warmed  by 
a  smoky  turf  fire,  and  yet  at  the  end  of  the  day  he  could  say  with 
the  enthusiasm  of  a  young  poet  that  neither  darkness  nor  storm 
would  he  willingly  have  had  lessened.  He  was  supported,  no  doubt, 
in  his  recollections  by  the  comforts  of  the  inn  at  Inverary  which 
was,  he  said,  "  not  only  commodious,  but  magnificent."  Perhaps  he 
was  inspired  also  by  the  gill  of  whisky  which  he  called  for — "  the 


246 


THE    INN   AT    INVRRARY. 


first  fermented  li<iuor,"  says  Boswell,  "that  he  tasted  during  his 
travels."  I  le  forgets,  however,  the  brandy  which  he  was  prevailed 
on  to  drink  at  Dunvegan  when  he  was  suffering  from  cold.  "  Come, 
(said  Johnson)  let  me  know  what  it  is  that  makes  a  Scotchman 
happy."  He  thought  it  preferable  to  any  English  malt  brandy. 
"  What  was  the  process,"  he  writes,  "  I  had  no  opportunity  of 
enquiring,  nor  do  I  wish  to  improve  the  art  of  making  poison 
pleasant."  To  the  excellence  of  the  inn  at  Inverary,  Pennant  also 
bears  testimony.  Far  otherwise  does  Burns  speak  of  it,  in  his  in- 


INVERARY    CASTLE. 

dignation  at  the  incivility  of  the  landlord,  whose  whole  attention 
was  occupied  by  the  visitors  of  the  Duke  of  Argyle. 

"  Whoe'er  he  be  that  sojourns  here, 

I  pity  much  his  case, 
Unless  he  comes  to  wait  upon 

The  Lord  their  God  his  Grace. 

"There's  naething  here  but  Highland  pride, 

And  Highland  scab  and  hunger  ; 
If  Providence  has  sent  me  here, 

Twas  surely  in  an  anger." 

At  Inverary  our  travellers  rested  from  Saturday  evening  till 
Tuesday  morning.  This  pleasant  little  town  had  a  very  different, 
look  from  that  which  it  now  bears.  "  This  place,"  wrote  Pennant, 
"  will  in  time  be  very  magnificent ;  but  at  present  the  space  between 
the  front  of  the  castle  and  the  water  is  disgraced  with  the  old  town, 


SUNDAY   ON    LOCH    FYNE. 


247 


composed  of  the  most  wretched  hovels  that  can  be  imagined."  ' 
These  have  long  been  cleared  away,  so  that  there  is  now  an  un- 
broken view  over  a  finely  wooded  lawn  of  the  loch  and  the  hills 
beyond.  It  was  in  the  beginning  of  September,  1769,  that  he 
visited  the  place.  "  Every  evening,"  he  says,  "  some  hundreds  of 
boats  cover  the  surface  of  Loch  Fyne.  On  the  week-days  the 
cheerful  noise  of  the  bag-pipe 
and  dance  echoes  from  on 
board  ;  on  the  Sabbath  each 
boat  approaches  the  land,  and 
psalmody  and  devotion  divide 
the  day."  Our  travellers  were 
perhaps  too  late  in  the  year 
to  witness  this  curious  scene  ; 
at  all  events  they  make  no 
mention  of  it.  Had  they 
heard  the  psalm-singing  on 
the  Sunday  they  would  not 
have  left  it  unnoticed.  The 
forenoon  of  that  day  they 
"passed  calmly  and  placidly." 
Of  all  the  Sundays  which  I 
passed  in  Scotland,  nowhere 
did  I  find  such  an  unbroken 
stillness  as  here.  It  was  far 
quieter  than  the  towns,  for  the 
people  were  as  still  as  mice, 
and  it  was  quieter  than  the 
country,  for  there  was  an 
absence  of  country  noises. 
We  were  alone  in  our  hotel. 

It  was  the  last  day  of  June,  but  there  were  scarcely  any  other 
strangers  in  the  place  to  enjoy  the  beautiful  scenery  and  the  long 
summer  days. 

Boswell  hesitated,  or  affected  to  hesitate,  about  calling  on  the 
Duke  of  Argyle.  "  I  had  reason  to  think,"  he  writes,  "that  the 
duchess  disliked  me  on  account  of  my  zeal  in  the  Douglas  cause  ; 
but  the  duke  had  always  been  pleased  to  treat  me  with  great 
civility."  The  duchess  was  that  famous  beauty,  Elizabeth  Gunning, 

1   Tour  in  Scotland,  ed.  1774,  i.  218. 


ELI/AliETH    GUNNING. 


248 


THE    DUKE    AND    DUCHESS   OF   ARGYLE. 


the  wife  of  two  dukes  and  the  mother  of  four.  Her  sister  had 
married  the  Marl  of  Coventry.  "  The  two  beautiful  sisters,"  says 
1  lorace  Walpole,  "  were  going  on  the  stage,  when  they  are  at  once 
exalted  almost  as  high  as  they  could  be,  were  countessed  and  double- 
-duchessed."  '  The  duchess,  by  her  first  husband,  the  Duke  of 
Hamilton,  was  the  mother  of  the  unsuccessful  competitor  for  the 
Douglas  estates,  and  was  therefore  "  prejudiced  against  Boswell, 

who  had  shown  all 
the  bustling  impor- 
tance of  his  cha- 
racter in  the  Douglas 
cause. ":  Johnson, 
on  hearing  the  state 
of  the  case,  "  was 
clear  that  Boswell 
ought  to  pay  his  re- 
spects at  the  castle. 
I  mentioned,"  con- 
tinues Boswell,  "that 
I  was  afraid  my 
company  might  be 
disagreeable  to  the 
duchess.  He  treated 
the  objection  with 
a  manly  disdain, 
'  That,  Sir,  he  must 
settle  with  his  wife.' 
He  insisted  that  I 
should  not  go  to 
JOHNSON'S  HOST.  the  castle  this  day 

before  dinner,  as  it 

would  look  like  seeking  an  invitation.  '  But,'  said  I,  'if  the  duke 
invites  us  to  dine  with  him  to-morrow,  shall  we  accept  ?'  '  Yes,  Sir,' 
I  think  he  said,  '  to  be  sure.'  But  he  added,  '  He  won't  ask  us.'" 
By  the  duke,  who  was  sitting  over  his  wine,  Boswell  was  most 
politely  received  ;  but  when  he  was  taken  into  the  drawing-room 
and  introduced,  neither  the  duchess  nor  the  ladies  with  her  took  the 
least  notice  of  him.  The  following  day  he  and  Johnson  were 
shown  through  the  castle.  "It  is  a  stately  place,"  said  Johnson. 


1  Walpole's  Letters,  ix.  358. 


2  Boswell's  Johnson,  v.  353,  «.  I. 


FINE  OLD  TREKS  AT  INVERARY. 


249 


"  What  I  admire  here  is  the  total  defiance  of  expense."  In  a 
low  one-horse  chair  our  two  travellers  were  driven  through  "the 
duke's  spacious  park  and  rising  forests."  "  I  had,"  writes  Boswell, 
"a  particular  pride  in  showing  Dr.  Johnson  a  great  number  of  fine 
old  trees,  to  compensate  for  the  nakedness  which  had  made  such  an 
impression  on  him  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Scotland."  Pennant 
noticed  pines  nine  feet,  and  beeches  from  nine  to  twelve  feet  in 
girth,  planted,  it  was  said,  by  the  Earl  of  Argyle  who  was  beheaded 
in  1685.  They  have  grown  to  a  noble  size,  and  in  one  part  form  a 
long  avenue,  which  would  grace  that  English  county  which  takes  its 
name  from  its  beech  woods.  Even  in  the  Black  Forest  I  do  not 


- 

•• 


THE   AVKNUE  OK    11EKCIIES. 


know  that  I  have  seen  larger  pines.  The  planting  still  goes  on.  A 
fine  young  Spanish  chestnut  boasts  in  the  inscription  which  it  bears 
that  in  the  year  1858  it  was  planted  by  Lord  Tennyson.  "Would," 
I  exclaimed  as  I  read  the  words,  "  that  twin  chestnuts  of  stately 
growth  in  like  manner  commemorated  the  visit  of  Johnson  and 
Boswell."  But  Johnson's  trees  are  scattered  broadcast  over  Scotland. 
Si  momimentuin  qufcris,  circumspicc. 

The  fine  collection  of  arms  of  which  he  took  much  notice  still 
adorns  the  hall.  Of  the  pictures  no  mention  is  made  by  either  of 
the  travellers,  though  in  more  than  one  they  might  have  recognized 
the  work  of  their  friend  Sir  Joshua.  Here  is  his  full-length  por- 
trait of  the  beautiful  duchess,  "  about  whom  the  world  had  gone 
mad  "  one-and-twenty  years  before.  When  she  was  presented  at 

K    K 


250 


TWO    BEAUTIFUL  SISTERS. 


Court,  "  the  crowd  was  so  great,"  writes  Horace  Walpole,  "that 
even  the  noble  mob  in  the  drawing-room  clambered  upon  chairs 
and  tables  to  look  at  her."  As  she  passed  down  to  Scotland, 
"  seven  hundred  people,"  it  was  reported,  "  sat  up  all  night  in  and 
about  an  inn  in  Yorkshire  to  see  her  get  into  her  post-chaise  next 
morning."  '  Here,  too,  is  a  small  but  lovely  picture  of  her  sister, 
the  Countess  of  Coventry.  On  her  going  down  to  her  husband's 


THE   HALL,    INVERARY  CASTLE. 

country  seat  near  Worcester,  "  a  shoemaker  in  that  town  got  two 
guineas  and  a  half  by  showing  a  shoe  that  he  was  making  for  her 
at  a  penny  a-piece."  :  In  striking  contrast  with  the  two  sisters  are 
many  of  the  portraits  which  hang  on  the  walls.  It  is  a  strange  com- 
pany which  is  brought  together  :  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  and  her 
half-sister,  a  Countess  of  Argyle  ;  Oliver  Cromwell  ;  the  Marquis 
of  Argyle,  and  just  below  him  Charles  II.,  who  sent  him  to  the 
scaffold  ;  the  earl,  his  son,  who  was  beheaded  by  James  II.  ;  and 


Horace  Walpolc's  Letters,  ii.  281,  285. 


-  Ib.  p.  293. 


DINNER   AT    1NVERARY.  251 

John,  the  great  duke,  who  broke  the  neck  of  the  rebellion  in  1715, 
and  rendered  desperate  the  cause  of  James  II.'s  son. 

The  room  in  which  our  travellers  dined  is  much  in  the  state  in 
which  they  saw  it  ;  the  walls  panelled  with  the  same  festoons,  and 
the  chairs  adorned  with  the  same  gilding  and  the  same  tapestry. 
But  it  is  turned  to  other  uses.  No  "  splendid  dinner"  is  served  up 
in  it  such  as  Johnson  enjoyed  and  praised ;  no  "  luxuries  "  such  as 


THE   OLD    DINING    ROOM. 


he  defended.  No  Lady  Betty  Hamilton  can  quietly  take  her  chair 
after  dinner,  and  lean  upon  the  back  of  it,  as  she  listens  eagerly  to 
the  great  talker,  who  is  unaware  that  she  is  just  behind  him.  No 
Boswell  can  with  a  steady  countenance  have  the  satisfaction  for 
once  to  look  a  duchess  in  the  face,  as  with  a  respectful  air  he  drinks 
to  her  good  health.  The  tables  are  covered  with  books  and  maga- 
zines, and  pamphlets,  and  correspondence.  It  is  the  duke's  busi- 
ness-room where  he  sees  his  chamberlain,1  and  where  his  librarian 

1  "  I  went  to  renew  my  lease,  but  my  Lord's       Chamberlain  was  not  at  home.— Steward.     The 


DINNER    AT    INVRRARY. 


receives  ami  sorts  the  new  publications  which  are  ever  coming  in, 
before  he  transfers  them  to  the  shelves  of  the  library. 

The  noble  drawing-room  remains  unchanged — -the  gilded  ceiling, 
the  old  French  tapestry  covering  the  walls,  the  gilt  tapestry  chairs, 
the  oaken  floor,  up  and  clown  which  the  duke  and  Boswell  walked 
conversing,  while  her  grace  made  Dr.  Johnson  come  and  sit  by  her. 
All  is  the  same,  except  that  time  has  dealt  kindly  by  the  tapestry 
and  the  gilding,  and  refined  them  in  their  fading. 

Faujas  Saint-Fond,  who  spent  three  days  in  the  castle  a  few 
years  later,  is  full  of  praise  of  everything  which  he  saw.  The  duke 
and  his  family,  he  says,  spoke  French  with  a  purity  not  unworthy 

of  the  highest  society 
in  Paris.  The  cookery, 
with  the  exception  of 
a  few  dishes,  was 
French,  and  was  ex- 
cellent. There  was  an 
abundance  of  hot- 
house fruits.  There 
were  silver  forks  in- 
stead of  "ces  petits 
tridens  cl'acier  bien 
aigus,  en  forme  de 
dard,  fixes  sur  un 
manche,  clout  on  se 
sert  ordinairement  en 
Angleterre,  memedans 
les  maisons  ou  Ton 

donne  de  fort  bons  diners."1  Still  more  did  he  rejoice  at  seeing 
napkins  on  the  table,  a  rare  sight  in  F^ngland.  The  hours  of  meals 
were,  breakfast  at  ten  o'clock,  dinner  at  half-past  four,  and  supper  at 
ten.  At  dinner,  after  the  ladies  had  withdrawn,  "la  cereinonie 
des  (oasts  "  lasted  at  least  three-quarters  of  an  hour  P 

At  Inverary  Johnson  met  not  only  the  descendants  of  a  long  line 


TAPKSTRY    I1KDKOOM. 


person  who  receives  the  rents  anil  revenues  of 
some  corporations  is  still  called  chamhcilain  ; 
as  the  chamberlain  of  London." — Beatlie's  .SVW- 
tictsms,  p.  24. 

1    Voyage  fn  Anglcttrrc,  &^f.,  i.  290. 

a  He  gives  the  following  curious  account  of 
an  accommodation  which  we  should  scarcely 
have  expected  to  find  in  the  dining-room  of  In- 


verary :  "Si, pendant  les  libations,  le champagne 
mousseux  fait  ressentir  son  influence  appcritive, 
le  cas  cst  prevu,  et  sans  quitter  la  compagnie, 
on  trouve  dans  de  jolies  encoignures,  places  dans 
les  angles  de  la  salle,  tout  ce  qui  est  necessaire 
pour  satisfaire  a  ce  petit  besoin."  Voyage  en 
Angleterre,  &c.,  i.  294. 


LORD   MACAULAY'S   GRANDFATHER.  253 

of  famous  statesmen,  but  also  the  ancestor  of  a  great  historian. 
Lord  Macaulay's  grandfather  was  at  this  time  Minister  of 
Inverary.  He  passed  the  evening  with  our  travellers  at  their  inn 
after  they  had  returned  from  dining  at  the  Castle,  and  got  some- 
what roughly  handled  in  talk. 

"When  Dr.  Johnson  spoke  of  people  whose  principles  were  good,  but  whose 
practice  was  faulty,  Mr.  Macaulay  said,  he  had  no  notion  of  people  being  in  earnest 
in  their  good  professions,  whose  practice  was  not  suitable  to  them.  The  doctor 
grew  warm,  and  said,  'Sir,  are  you  so  grossly  ignorant  of  human  nature,  as  not  to 
know  that  a  man  may  be  very  sincere  in  good  principles,  without  having  good  prac- 
tice?'" 

On  this  Sir  George  Trevelyan  remarks  in  his  life  of  his  uncle  : — 
"  When  we  think  what  well-known  ground  this  was  to  Lord 
Macaulay  it  is  impossible  to  suppress  a  wish  that  the  great  talker 
had  been  at  hand  to  avenge  his  grandfather  and  grand-uncle." ' 
"A  hundred  to  one  on  Sam  Johnson,"  say  we.  It  is  a  pity  that  it 
was  not  at  the  Manse  that  they  spent  that  Sunday  evening  ;  for 
there  the  little  child  who  was  one  day  to  make  the  name  of  Zachary 
Macaulay  famous  as  the  liberator  of  the  slaves  would  have  gazed 
with  eager  open  eyes  on  the  great  Englishman,  who  had  startled 
the  grave  men  at  Oxford  by  giving  as  his  toast  : — "  Here's  to  the 
next  insurrection  of  the  negroes  in  the  West-Indies." 


GLENCROE,   LOCH  LOMOND,  AND  GLASGOW  (OCTOBER  26-30). 

The  Duke  of  Argyle,  who  had  heard  Dr.  Johnson  complain  that 
the  shelties  were  too  small  for  his  weight,  "  was  obliging  enough  to 
mount  him  on  a  stately  steed  from  his  Grace's  stable."  Joseph 
(Boswell's  servant),  said  : — "  He  now  looks  like  a  bishop."  Leaving 
Inverary  on  the  morning  of  Tuesday,  October  26,  they  rode  round 
the  head  of  Loch  Fyne  through  Glencroe  to  Tarbet  on  Loch 
Lomond.  Boswell,  who  was  becoming  somewhat  indolent  in  keep- 
ing his  journal,  passes  over  this  part  of  their  tour  in  silence.  Saint- 
Fond  speaks  of  the  Glen  as  "  ce  triste  passage."  Pennant  describes 
it  as  "  the  seat  of  melancholy,"  and  Johnson  as  "a  black  and  dreary 
region.  At  the  top  of  the  hill,"  he  adds,  "  is  a  seat  with  this 
inscription,  '  Rest  and  be  thankful.'  Stones  were  placed  to  mark 
the  distances,  which  the  inhabitants  have  taken  away,  resolved, 

1   Life  of  Lord  Macaulay,  ed.  1877,  i.  7. 


-'54 


REST   AND    BE   THANKFUL." 


RUST  AND  UK  TIIANKFI'L. 


they  said,   to  have  no  new  miles."     The  road  was  that  at  which 
Wolfe's  men  had  been  working  twenty  years  earlier. 

"  He  that  has  gained  at  length  the  wished  for  height,"  still  finds 

as  Wordsworth  many  years 
later  found  "  this  brief,  this 
simple  wayside  call,"  Rest 
and  be  Thankful ;  but  there 
is  no  longer  a  seat  where  his 
weary  limbs  may  repose. 
Perhaps  some  day  it  will  be 
restored  with  the  old  inscrip- 
tion and  the  following  addi- 
tion : — "James  Wolfe,  1753. 
Samuel  Johnson,  i  773.  Wil- 
liam Wordsworth,  1831."  It 
is  on  a  mile-stone,  or  on  what 

looks  like  a  mile-stone,  that  the  inscription  is  now  read.      Beneath 
is  carved. 

MILITARY   ROAD  REPD. 
BY  93D  RKGT.    1768. 

TRANSFERRED  To 

COMMRS  FOR   H.   R.  &  B.1 

IN  THE  YEAR   1814. 

One  of  the  earlier  tablets,  which  were  believed  to  have  been 
put  up  by  Wolfe's  men,  was  pulled  down  many  years  ago  by  a 
farmer  at  A rdvoirlich,  and  transformed  into  a  hearth  stone.2 
Glencroe  is  but  little  changed  since  Johnson  looked  upon  it.  It  is 
still  lonely  and  grand.  The  tourist's  carriage  breaks  the  quiet  from 
time  to  time,  but  it  soon  sinks  back  into  "  sublimity,  silence  and 
solitude."  When  we  passed  through  it  there  was  no  succession  of 
cataracts  and  no  roaring  torrent  such  as  Johnson  described.  The 
long  drought  had  made  a  silence  in  the  hills.  We  met  only  one 
tourist — a  lad  on  his  bicycle  who  had  escaped  that  morning  from 
the  smoke  of  Glasgow,  and  full  of  eagerness  and  life,  was  pressing 
on  to  the  inn  where  his  long  ride  of  fifty  miles  would  find  its  pleasant 
termination  in  dinner  and  a  bed.  I  called  to  mind  how  seven  and 
thirty  years  before  when  I  was  just  such  another  youngster,  as 
I  was  crossing  the  top  of  the  Glen,  I  had  seen  in  the  distance 


1  Commissioners  for  Highland  Roads  and  Bridges.  "  Wright's  Life  oj 'General  Wolff,  p.  269. 


A   JUDGE    ON    CIRCUIT. 


255 


It  was  a  big  Highlander 


something  white  fluttering  in  the  wind, 
returning,  as  he  told  us,  from  Glasgow.  Overcome  by  the  heat  of 
the  day,  and  incommoded  by  a  garment  to  which  he  was  not  much 
accustomed,  he  had  taken  off  his  trousers  and  was  carrying  them 
on  his  shoulders.  It  was  his  shirt  that  had  caught  my  eye. 

At  Tarbet  our  travellers  dined  at  the  little  inn  on  the  bank  of 
Loch  Lomond.      Here,  a  few  years  later,  Saint-Fond  and  his  party 


MILESTONES  ON   THE   TARUET   ROAD. 


arrived  very  late  on  a  rainy  night  in  September.  They  were  on 
their  way  from  Glasgow  to  Inverary,  and  had  meant  to  rest  at  Luss. 
Unfortunately  for  them  it  was  the  the  time  of  the  autumn  circuit. 
The  inn  looked  like  a  fisherman's  hut.  The  landlady  coming  out 
made  them  a  sign  that  they  must  not  utter  a  sound.  They  were 
thrust  into  a  stable,  where  she  said  : — "  Lc  lord  juge  me  fait 
1'honorable  faveur  clans  sa  tournee  de  loger  chex  moi ;  il  est  la ; 
chacun  doit  respecter  ce  qu'il  fait  ;  il  dort."  She  added  that  she 
could  take  in  neither  them  nor  their  horses.  They  remonstrated, 


256 


LORD  JEFFREY    AT   TARBET. 


"  Point  cle  bruit,  ne  tnmblez  pas  le  sommeil  clu  juge,  respect  a  la 
loi  ;  soyez  heureux  et  partez."  They  had  no  help  for  it,  but  drove 
on  with  their  weary  horses  through  the  night  and  the  heavy  rain  to 
Tarbet,  where  they  arrived  between  three  and  four  next  morning. 
There  they  found  all  the  beds  occupied  by  jurymen,  who  were  on 
their  way  to  Inverary.  The  landlady  did  what  she  could  to  make 
them  comfortable,  and  gave  them  some  good  tea  in  a  set  of  China 
cups  which  had  been  given  her  by  the  Duchess  of  Argyle.1 

At  Stuckgown,  close  to  Tarbet,  Lord  Jeffrey  for  many  years 
passed  a  few  weeks  of  every  summer,  in  a  quietness  and  solitude 
which  have  for  ever  fled  the  place.  Writing  from  Tarbet  on  August  5, 
1818,  he  says  :  "  Here  we  are  in  a  little  inn  on  the  banks  of  Loch 


KOSKUKW. 


Lomond,  in  the  midst  of  the  mists  of  the  mountains,  the  lakes, 
heaths,  rocks,  and  cascades  which  have  been  my  passion  since  I  was 
a  boy,  and  to  which,  like  a  boy,  I  have  run  away  the  instant  I  could 
get  my  hands  clear  of  law,  and  review,  and  Edinburgh.  They 
have  no  post-horses  in  the  Highlands,  and  we  sent  away  those  that 
brought  us  here,  with  orders  to  come  back  for  us  to  morrow,  and 
so  we  are  left  without  a  servant,  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  the 
natives."  He  goes  on  to  mention  a  steam-boat  "  which  circum- 
navigates the  whole  lake  every  day  in  about  ten  hours.  It  was 
certainly  very  strange  and  striking  to  hear  and  see  it  hissing  and 
roaring  past  the  headlands  of  our  little  bay,  foaming  and  spouting 
like  an  angry  whale  ;  but  on  the  whole  it  rather  vulgarises  the 
scene  too  much,  and  I  am  glad  that  it  is  found  not  to  answer,  and 

'    Voyage  mi  Augletarre,  &(.,  i.  268. 


THK    COLQUHOUNS    OF    ROSEDEW.  257 

is  to  be  dropped  next  year."1  At  Tarbet  the  tourist  who  is 
oppressed  with  the  size  of  the  hotel  and  the  army  of  waiters,  and 
who  sees  the  pier  as  I  saw  it  crowned  with  an  automatic  sweet- 
meat machine,  may  well  wish  that  the  steam-boat  had  never  been 
found  to  answer.  The  scene  is  hopelessly  vulgarised.  It  is  fast 
sinking  into  the  paradise  of  cockneys.  I  asked  for  that  variety  of 
bread  which  I  remember  to  have  seen  served  up  there  thirty-seven 
years  ago.  I  was  scornfully  told  that  in  those  days  the  Scotch  had 
not  known  how  to  bake,  but  that  now  they  could  make  a  large  loaf 
as  well  as  anyone.  At  Inverary  I  had  in  vain  asked  for  oat-cakes 
at  my  hotel.  If  Johnson  were  to  make  his  journey  in  these  present 
times,  and  were  confined  to  the  big  tourists'  hotels,  he  would 
certainly  no  longer  say  that  an  epicure,  wherever  he  had  supped, 
would  wish  to  breakfast  in  Scotland. 

From  Tarbet  he  rode  along  the  shores  of  Loch    Lomond   to 
Rosedew,2  the  house  of  Sir 
James  Colquhoun.    "It  was 
a  place,"  says  the  historian 

of    Dumbartonshire,    "rich  .' .'3IHMBMWf-^*^l^S 

in  historic  associations,  but  - 
about    1770    it  was  super- 
seded by  a  new  mansion,  to  INCH  GALIiRAnH. 
which  large  additions  have 

since  been  made."'  Here  Boswell  passed  in  review  fohnson's 
courteous  behaviour  at  Inverary,  and  said,  "  You  were  quite  a 
fine  gentleman  when  with  the  duchess.'  He  answered  in  good 
humour,  'Sir,  I  look  upon  myself  as  a  very  polite  man.'"  Next 
morning  "we  took,"  writes  Johnson,  "a  boat  to  rove  upon  the 
lake.  It  has  about  thirty  islands,  of  which  twenty  belong  to  Sir 
James.  Young  Colquhoun'  went  into  the  boat  with  us,  but  a 
little  agitation  of  the  water  frighted  him  to  shore.  We  passed 
up  and  down  and  landed  upon  one  small  island,3  on  which  are  the 
ruins  of  a  castle  ;  and  upon  another  much  larger,  which  serves  Sir 
James  for  a  park,  and  is  remarkable  for  a  large  wood  of  yew  trees." 
Just  one  hundred  years  later,  on  December  18,  1873,  that  very  fate 
befel  one  of  his  descendants  which  the  young  Colquhoun  dreaded 

1  Cockburn's  Life  of  Jeffrey,  ed.  1852,  ii.  180.  mov.il  was  made  from  the  old  castle  to  the  centre 

'2  Rossdhu.  portion." 

3  J.   Irving's  Book  of  Dumbartonshire,  ii.  242.  4  Johnson  spells  the  name  as  it  was  pronounced 

See  il>.  p.  257,  where  it  is  stated  that  it  was  in  Column. 

1774  (the  year  after  Johnson's  visit),  that  "  a  re-  "'   Inch  Galbrailh. 

L    L 


258  KOVIN<;    ON     LOCH     I.OMONI). 

lor  himself.  In  the  darkness  of  a  winter's  evening  his  boat  was 
upset  as  he  was  coming  home  from  the  Yew  Island,  and  he  was 
drowned  with  three  of  his  gamekeepers  and  a  boy.  It  was  never 
known  how  the  accident  happened,  for  no  one  escaped  ;  but  the 
boat  was  heavily  laden  with  the  dead  bodies  of  some  stags,  which 
I  hey  had  shot  in  the  island,  and  the  unhappy  men  were  weighed 
down  with  their  accoutrements  and  the  ammunition  which  they 
carried.  The  yew  trees  were  planted,  it  was  said,  on  the  advice  of 
King  Robert  Bruce,  in  order  to  furnish  the  Lennox  men  with 


YKW    TKKK    ISLAND. 


trusty  bows.1  The  old  castle,  "on  which  the  osprey  built  her 
annual  nest,"  is  so  much  buried  in  ivy  that  it  is  not  easily  distin- 
guished from  the  surrounding  woods.  We  hired  a  boat  at  Luss 
and  in  our  turn  roved  upon  the  lake.  We  landed  on  one  of  the 
islands  and  lunched  on  the  top  of  a  rock  by  the  ruins  of  a  second 
castle.  Loch  Lomond,  studded  with  islands,  lay  like  a  mirrqr 
beneath  us,  with  the  huge  Hen  Lomond  for  a  noble  background. 
From  time  to  time  a  boat  broke  the  smoothness  of  the  water,  and 
the  cry  of  a  gull,  or  the  bark  of  a  far-away  dog,  the  stillness  of  the 
air.  We  spoke  of  the  heat  and  bustle  of  the  world,  but  imagination 
almost  refused  to  picture  them  in  so  peaceful  a  spot.  Our  boat- 

'   living's  Hook  of  ntimlni rtonshire,  \.  347. 


01.1)    AND    NKW    DOM1NIKS.  259 

man  was  a  man  of  a  strong  niiiul,  which  had  not  been  suffered  t.o 
lie  barren.  lie  bore  his  parl  well  in  a  talk  on  books.  1  had 
chanced  to  mention  the  serfs  who  worked  in  the  coal  minus  and 
salt-pans  in  Scotland  ;  he  at  once  struck  into  the  conversation. 
"  Sir  Walter  Scott,"  he  said,  "  makes  one  of  his  characters  say,  '  he 
would  not  take  him  back  like  a  collier  on  a  salter.'  This  made  me 
look  the  matter  up  for  I  did  not  understand  what  he  meant."  lie 
praised  the  old  Scotch  common  schools.  "  We  Scotchmen,"  he 
proudly  said,  "have  had  education  lor  three;  hundred  years.  A 
Scotch  working-man  would  starve  to  death  to  give  his  son  a  good 
education."  The;  present  race  of  schoolmasters  who  are  "  paid  by 
results,"  he  contrasted  unfavourably  with  those  whom  he  had 
known  in  his  boyhood.  "  The  old  Dominies  would  willingly  teach 
all  that  they  knew,  and  grudged  no  time  to  a  boy  who  was  eager 
for  knowledge  ;  but  now  they  are  like  other  people,  and  when  they 
have  done  their  day's  work  they  will  do  no  more."  In  the  village 
club  to  which  he  belonged,  they  had  in  the  last  two  or  three 
winters  engaged  for  a  few  weeks  a  young  Glasgow  student  to  teach 
them  elocution,  "  for  how  could  they  enjoy  Shakespeare  if  they  did 
not  know  how  to  read  him  properly  ?  "  He  praised  the  Colquhouns. 
'  They  would  never  send  any  of  their  tenants  to  prison  for  poaching. 
They  might  fine  them,  but  the  money  they  would  give  away  in 
charity."  He  spoke  of  the  old  clan  feeling,  and  of  the  protection 
given  by  the  laird.  1 1  is  grandfather,  who  was  a  farmer,  a  Mac- 
pherson  by  name,  had  married  a  Macqueen.1  On  a  rapid  fall  in 
the  price  of  Highland  cattle  he  fell  into  money  difficulties,  and 
was  harshly  threatened  with  a  forced  sale  by  one  of  his  creditors. 
The  Laird  of  the  Macqueens  said  significantly  to  this  man  :  "  You 
may  do  whatever  you  like  against  Macpherson,  but  remember  that 
his  wife  is  a  Macquecn."  The  hint  was  enough,  and  the  pro- 
ceedings were  at  once  dropped.  Our  boatman  had  read  Johnson's 
Journey  lo  l/ie  Western  islands,  but  said  that  Scotchmen  feel  too 
sore  about  him  to  like  reading  him.  I  opened  the  book,  for  I  had 
it  with  me,  and  read  the  concluding  words  in  which  he  says  : 
"  Novelty  and  ignorance  must  always  be  reciprocal,  and  I  cannot 
but  be  conscious  that  my  thoughts  on  national  manners  are  the 
thoughts  of  one  who  has  seen  but  little."  My  boatman  was  much 
struck  with  his  modesty,  and  seemed  to  think  that  he  had  formed 
too  severe  a  judgment. 

1   I  have  int'.-nti'jnully  altered  the  names. 


260 


COMMISSARY    SMOLLKTT. 


Boswell  was  not  so  careful  in  recording  Johnson's  talk  on  the 
Lake  as  I  was  with  our  boatman's.  "  I  recollect,"  he  writes, 
"  none  of  his  conversation,  except  that,  when  talking  of  dress,  he 
said,  '  Sir,  were  I  to  have  any  thing  fine,  it  should  be  very  fine. 
Were  I  to  wear  a  ring,  it  should  not  be  a  bauble,  but  a  stone  of 
great  value.  Were  I  to  wear  a  laced  or  embroidered  waistcoat,  it 
should  be  very  rich.  I  had  once  a  very  rich  laced  waistcoat,  which 
I  wore  the  first  night  of  my  tragedy.' "  Johnson,  nearly  five  and 
twenty  years  before,  sat  in  one  of  the  side-boxes  of  Drury  Lane 
Theatre,  in  a  scarlet  waistcoat,  with  rich  gold  lace,  and  a  gold- 


CAMERON. 


laced  hat,  listening  to  the  catcalls  whistling  before  the  curtain  rose  ; 
how  little  could  he  have  thought  that  one  day  he  would  boast  of 
his  costume  as  he  was  roving  in  a  boat  upon  Loch  Lomond  ! 

In  the  evening  they  drove  to  Cameron,  the  seat  of  Commissary 
Smollett.  It  was  the  first  drive  which  they  had  taken  since  at 
Inverness  they  began  their  equitation  full  two  months  earlier. 
"  Our  satisfaction,"  says  Boswell,  "  of  \_sic\  finding  ourselves  again  in  a 
comfortable  carriage  was  very  great.  We  had  a  pleasing  convic- 
tion of  the  commocliousness  of  civilisation,  and  heartily  laughed  at 
the  ravings  of  those  absurd  visionaries  who  have  attempted  to 
persuade  us  of  the  superior  advantages  of  a  state  of  nature."  With 
these  visionaries  Boswell  himself  sometimes  sided.  The  people  of 


TOBIAS   SMOLLETT. 


261 


Otaheite  especially  had  won  his  admiration.  "No,  Sir;"  said 
Johnson  to  him  on  one  such  occasion  :  "You  are  not  to  talk  such 
paradox  ;  let  me  have  no  more  on't.  It  cannot  entertain,  far  less  can 
it  instruct."  "  Don't  cant  in  defence  of  savages,"  he  said,  on  another 
occasion.  At  Cameron  they  had  none  of  this  fanciful  talk.  Their 
host  "  was  a  man  of  considerable  learning,  with  abundance  of 
animal  spirits  ;  so  that  he  was  a  very  good  companion  for  Dr. 
Johnson,  who  said,  '  We  have  had  more  solid  talk  here  than  at 
any  place  where  we  have  been.' '  He  was  a  relation  of  the  great 
novelist,  and  one  of  the  four  judges  of  the  Commissary  Court  in 
Edinburgh.  It  was  the  sole  court 
in  Scotland  which  took  cognisance 
of  actions  about  marriage,  and  the 
Supreme  Court  in  all  questions  of 
probate.  "  It  sat,"  says  the  lively 
Topham,  "  in  a  little  room  of  about 
ten  feet  square;  from  the  darkness 
and  dirtiness  of  it  you  would  rather 
imagine  that  those  who  were  brought 
into  it  were  confined  there."  The 
judges  were  paid  rather  by  per- 
quisites than  by  salaries.  In  each 
cause  they  fixed  the  amount  which 
the  litigants  should  pay  them  for  the 
sentence  which  they  pronounced.1 

Smollett,  in  his  Humphry  Clinker, 
brings    Matthew    Bramble   and    his 

nephew  to  Cameron,  who  describe  it  as  "  a  very  neat  country 
house,  but  so  embosomed  in  an  oak  wood  that  we  did  not  see  it 
till  we  were  within  fifty  yards  of  the  cloor."  "  If  I  was  disposed  to 
be  critical,"  Mr.  Bramble  continues,  "  I  should  say  it  is  too  near 
the  Lake,  which  approaches  on  one  side  to  within  six  or  seven 
yards  of  the  window."  The  Commissary  had  erected  a  pillar  by 
the  side  of  the  high  road  to  Glasgow,  "  to  the  memory  of  his 
ingenious  kinsman,"  who  two  years  earlier  had  died  in  Italy, 
"  Eheu  !  quam  procul  a  patria  !  "  The  Latin  inscription  for  this 
monument  was  shown  to  Johnson,  and  revised  by  him  "  with  an 
ardent  and  liberal  earnestness."  The  copy  with  the  corrections 


SMOLLETT  S    PILLAR. 


1  Topham's  Letters  from  Edinburgh,  p.  299,  anil  Arnot's  History  of  Edinburgh,  p.  491. 

2  Humphry  Clinker,  iii.  17,  39. 


262 


THK    "SARACEN'S    HEAD,"    GLASGOW. 


in    his    handwriting    is    preserved    among    the    family   papers    at 
Cameron.1 

On  Thursday,  October  28,  a  postchaise  which  Boswell  had 
ordered  from  Glasgow,  "  came  for  us,"  he  says,  "  and  we  drove  on 
in  high  spirits."  On  their  way  they  stopped  at  Dunbarton,  then 
"a  small  but  good  old  town,  consisting  principally  of  one  large 
street  in  the  form  of  a  crescent  ;  "  '  but  now  a  smoky  seat  of  the  iron 
ship-building  industry.  The  steep  rock  on  which  the  Castle  stands 
Johnson  "  ascended  with  alacrity."  At  Glasgow  they  stayed  at  the 
"  Saracen's  Head,"  "  the  paragon  of  inns  in  the  eyes  of  the  Scotch," 
says  a  writer  in  the  Gentleman 's  Magazine,  "  but  most  wretchedly 


DUNBARTON. 


managed."1  Our  two  travellers  seem  to  have  been  contented. 
Johnson,  no  doubt,  was  kept  in  the  best  of  humours  by  the  sight  of 
a  great  many  letters  from  England,  after  the  long  interval  of  sixty- 
eight  days  during  which  not  a  line  had  reached  him.  "  He  enjoyed 
in  imagination  the  comforts  which  we  could  now  command,  and 
seemed  to  be  in  high  glee.  I  remember,  he  put  a  leg  up  on  each 
side  of  the  grate,  and  said,  with  a  mock  solemnity,  by  way  of 
soliloquy,  but  loud  enough  for  me  to  hear  it:  '  Here  am  I,  an 
ENGLISH  man,  sitting  by  a  £wz/fire.'"  Of  fires  made  by  peat, 
that  "  sullen  fuel,"  he  had  had  enough  in  the  last  two  months.  All 
along  the  sea-board  coal  was  made  artificially  dear  by  the  folly  of 

1  Irving's  Book  of  Dumbartonshire,  ii.  200.  '2  Pennant's  Tour  in  Scotland,  ed,  1774,1.228. 

3   Gentleman's  Magazine,  1771,  p.  545. 


THE    GLASGOW    PROFESSORS.  263 

Parliament.  A  duty  of  five  shillings  and  fourpence  per  chaldron, 
says  Knox,  was  levied  on  coal  at  ports;  none  on  inland  coal.  It 
had  to  be  landed  at  a  port  where  there  is  a  custom-house,  and  might 
then  be  re-shipped  for  some  other  place  in  the  neighbourhood.1 
Custom-houses  were  few  and  far  between,  so  that  in  many  cases, 
if  coal  was  used  at  all,  it  would  have  had  to  be  twice  landed  and 
twice  shipped.  On  this  mischievous  regulation  Adam  Smith  re- 
marks :  "  Where  coals  are  naturally  cheap  they  are  consumed  duty 
free  ;  where  they  are  naturally  dear,  they  are  loaded  with  a  heavy 
duty." 2 

The  "Saracen's  Head"  with  its  coal  fire  has  disappeared.  My 
boatman  had  heard  the  old  people  talk  of  it.  In  this  inn  the  following 
morning  Dr.  Reid,  the  philosopher,  and  two  of  the  other  professors 
of  the  University  breakfasted  with  Johnson.  He  met  some  of  them 
also  at  dinner,  tea,  and  supper.  "  I  was  not  much  pleased  with 
any  of  them,"  he  wrote  to  Mrs.  Thrale.  Boswell  unfortunately 
was  again  lazy  with  his  journal,  and  kept  no  record  of  the  talk. 
Writing  long  afterwards,  he  says  :  "  The  general  impression  upon 
my  memory  is,  that  we  had  not  much  conversation  at  Glasgow, 
where  the  professors,  like  their  brethren  at  Aberdeen,  did  not 
venture  to  expose  themselves  much  to  the  battery  of  cannon  which 
they  knew  might  play  upon  them."  Reid's  silence  was  perhaps 
merely  due  to  that  reserve  which  he  generally  shewed  among 
strangers.3  Had  fate  been  kinder,  the  great  Clow  might  have  been 
still  among  them,  who  twenty-two  years  before  had  been  preferred 
both  to  Hume  and  Burke  as  Adam  Smith's  successor  in  the  Chair 
of  Logic.4  The  story  of  the  Billingsgate  altercation  between 
Smith  and  Johnson,  recorded  by  Sir  Walter  Scott,  is  wholly 
untrue.  Smith  was  not  at  this  time  in  Glasgow.  It  is,  no  doubt, 
one  of  those  tales  about  Johnson  in  which  Scotch  invention  was 
humorously  displayed.  It  was,  perhaps,  meant  as  a  reply  to  the 
question  which  one  day,  in  London,  he  put  to  Adam  Smith,  who 
was  boasting  of  Glasgow,  "  Pray,  sir,  have  you  ever  seen  Brent- 
ford ? "  Boswell  says  :  "  I  put  him  in  mind  of  it  to-day  while  he 
expressed  his  admiration  of  the  elegant  buildings,  and  whispered 
him,  '  Don't  you  feel  some  remorse  ?' '  Smith's  pride  in  the  city 
where  he  had  spent  more  than  three  years  as  a  student,  and  twelve 
as  a  professor,  was  assuredly  well-founded.  Johnson  calls  it 

1  Knox's  Tour,  pp.  cli-iii.  3  Ty  tier's  Life  of  Lord  Kama,  ii.  230. 

"   Wealth  of  Nations,  ed.  i8n,  iii.  335.  4  Burton's  Life  of  Hume,  i.  351. 


264  GLASGOW    IN    DAYS    OF    OLD. 

"opulent  and  handsome,"  and  Boswell  "beautiful."  Nearly  two 
centuries  earlier  Camden  had  said  that  "  for  pleasant  situation, 
apple-trees,  and  other  like  fruit-trees,  it  is  much  commended."  ' 
Uefoe  describes  it  as  "indeed  a  very  fine  city;  the  four  principal 
streets  are  the  fairest  for  breadth,  and  the  finest  built  that  I  have 
ever  seen  in  one  city  together.  It  is  the  cleanest,  and  beautifullest, 
and  best  built  city  in  Britain,  London  excepted."1  Another 
traveller  of  about  the  same  date  says  that  "  it  is  the  beautifullest 
little  city  he  had  seen  in  Britain.  It  stands  deliciously  on  the 
banks  of  the  River  Clyde."3  In  June,  1757,  John  Wesley  went 
up  to  the  top  of  the  cathedral  steeple.  "  It  gave  us  a  fine  pros- 
pect," he  writes,  "  both  of  the  city  and  the  adjacent  country.  A 
more  fruitful  and  better  cultivated  plain  is  scarce  to  be  seen  in 
England."4  Smollett  swells  the  general  chorus  of  praise  :  "  Glasgow 
is  the  pride  of  Scotland.  It  is  one  of  the  prettiest  towns  in 
Europe."5  Pennant,  who  visited  it  the  year  before  Johnson,  calls 
it  "  the  best  built  of  any  second-rate  city  I  ever  saw.  The  view 
from  the  Cross  has  an  air  of  vast  magnificence."' 

At  the  Rebellion  of  i  745  the  citizens  had  shown  the  greatest 
loyalty.  They  raised  and  supported  at  their  own  expense  two 
battalions  of  six  hundred  men  each,  who  joined  the  duke's  army. 
Their  town  was  occupied  by  the  Pretender's  forces,  who  for  ten  days 
lived  there  at  free  quarters.  They  had  had  to  pay,  moreover,  two 
heavy  fines,  amounting  to  more  than  nine  thousand  pounds,  imposed 
on  them  for  their  fidelity  to  the  Hanoverian  Family.  In  1749,  in 
answer  to  their  petition  for  relief,  they  received  a  grant  from  Par- 
liament of  ten  thousand  pounds.7  On  April  24  of  that  same  year 
a  stage-coach  began  to  run  between  Glasgow  and  Edinburgh, 
starting  from  Edinburgh  every  Monday  and  Thursday,  and  from 
Glasgow  every  Tuesday  and  Friday.  "  Every  person  pays  nine 
shillings  fare,  and  is  allowed  a  stone-weight  of  luggage  "  By  the 
year  1783  far  greater  facilities  were  afforded.  In  John  Tail's 
Directory  for  Glasgow  of  that  year  (p.  77)  it  is  announced  that 
"  three  machines  set  out  from  each  town  every  day  at  eight  morn- 
ing. They  stop  on  the  road  and  change  horses.  Tickets,  toy.  6d. 

1  Camden's  Description  of  Scotland,  2nd  ed.  '  Wesley's  Journal,  ii.  410. 

p.  8l.  5  Humphry  Clinker,  iii.   14,  33. 

3  Defoe's   Tour  through  Great  Britain:  Scot-  ':    Voyage  to  the  Hebrides,  ed.  1774,  p.  127 

land,  p.  83.  7  Scots  Magazine,  1749,  p.  202. 

3  J.   Macky's  Journey  through  Scotland,  ed.  "*  Scots  Magazine,  1749,  p.  253. 
1723,  p.  295. 


GLASGOW    UNIVERSITY.  265 

each."  There  was  another  daily  "  machine"  belonging  to  a  different 
set  of  proprietors,  besides  one  which  ran  only  three  times  a  week, 
and  charged  but  8s.  6d.  "  The  Carlisle  Diligence,"  it  is  announced, 
"  sets  out  every  lawful  day." 

As  we  gaze  on  the  filthy  river  which  runs  by  the  large  city,  on 
the  dense  cloud  of  smoke  which  hangs  over  it,  on  the  grimy  streets 
which  have  swallowed  up  the  country  far  and  wide,  while  we  exult 
in  the  display  of  man's  ingenuity  and  strength,  and  in  the  com- 
merce by  which  the  good  things  of  earth  are  so  swiftly  and  cheaply 
interchanged,  we  may  mourn  over  the  beautiful  little  town  among 
the  apple-trees  which  stood  so  deliciously  on  the  banks  of  the  fair 
and  pure  stream  that  ran  to  seawards  beneath  the  arches  of  the  old 
stone  bridge.  How  far  removed  from  us  are  those  days  when 
Glasgow  was  pillaged  by  the  wild  rabble  of  Highlanders!  Yet  I 
have  an  uncle1  still  living  who  remembers  his  grandfather  and  his 
grandfather's  brother,  one  of  whom  had  climbed  up  a  tree  to  see 
the  other  march  with  a  body  of  Worcestershire  volunteers  against 
the  Young  Pretender. 

Johnson,  after  seeing  the  sights  of  the  city,  visited  the  college. 
"  It  has  not  had,"  he  writes,  "a  sufficient  share  of  the  increasing 
magnificence  of  the  place."  From  the  account  which  Dr.  Alex- 
ander Carlyle  gives  of  the  citizens,  as  he  had  known  them  about 
thirty  years  earlier,  they  were  not  likely  to  trouble  themselves  much 
about  the  glory  of  their  University.  With  a  few  exceptions  they 
were  "  shopkeepers  and  mechanics,  or  successful  pedlars,  who  occu- 
pied large  warerooms  full  of  manufactures  of  all  sorts  to  furnish  a 
cargo  to  Virginia  In  those  accomplishments  and  that  taste  that 
belong  to  people  of  opulence,  much  more  to  persons  of  education, 
they  were  far  behind  the  citizens  of  Edinburgh."  There  was  not 
a  teacher  of  French  or  of  music  in  the  whole  town.  Nevertheless, 
in  the  University  itself  he  found  "learning  an  object  of  more 
importance,  and  the  habit  of  application  much  more  general  "  than 
in  the  rival  institution  in  the  capital.*  Wesley  compared  the  two 
squares  which  formed  the  college  with  the  small  quadrangles  of 
Lincoln  College,  Oxford,  of  which  he  was  a  Fellow,  and  did  not 
think  them  larger,  or  at  all  handsomer.  He  was  surprised  at  the 
dress  of  the  students.  "  They  wear  scarlet  gowns,  reaching  only 
to  their  knees.  Most  I  saw  were  very  dirty,  some  very  ragged, 

1  Mr.  Frederic  Hill,  late  Assistant-Secretary  '2  Dr.    A.    Carlyle's    Autobiography,    pp.    71, 

to  the  Post  Office.  74. 

M    M 


266  PRINCIPAL   LEECH  MAN. 

and  all  of  very  coarse  cloth."  How  much  more  surprised  would 
he  have  been  at  the  far  shorter  gowns  now  worn  by  the  com- 
moners in  his  own  university,  showing,  as  they  do,  a  raggedness 
which  is  not  the  effect  of  age  and  wear,  but  of  intentional  mutila- 
tion !  There  is  an  affectation  of  antiquity  quite  as  much  in  a 
freshman's  gown,  as  in  the  pedigree  of  some  upstart  who  boasts 
that  he  is  sprung  from  the  Plantagenets.  The  college  numbered 
at  this  time  about  four  hundred  students,  most  of  whom  lived  in 
lodgings,  but  some  boarded  with  the  professors." 

The  principal  was  Dr.  Leechman,  whose  sermon  on  prayer  had 
once  raised  a  storm  "  among  the  high-flying  clergy. ":l 

"  In  his  house  Dr.  Johnson  had  the  satisfaction  of  being  told  that  his  name  had 
been  gratefully  celebrated  in  one  of  the  parochial  congregations  in  the  Highlands, 
as  the  person  to  whose  influence  it  was  chiefly  owing  that  the  New  Testament  was 
allowed  to  be  translated  into  the  Erse  language.  It  seems  some  political  members 
of  the  Society  in  Scotland  for  propagating  Christian  Knowledge  had  opposed  this 
pious  undertaking,  as  tending  to  preserve  the  distinction  between  the  Highlanders 
and  Lowlanders." 

Johnson,  in  a  letter  full  of  generous  indignation,  had  main- 
tained that  "  he  that  voluntarily  continues  ignorance,  is  guilty  of 
all  the  crimes  which  ignorance  produces,"  and  had  compared  these 
political  Christians  to  the  planters  of  America,  "  a  race  of  mortals 
whom,  I  suppose,  no  other  man  wishes  to  resemble."  Though  he 
was  no  doubt  struck  by  Leechman's  appearance,  "  which  was  that 
of  an  ascetic,  reduced  by  fasting  and  prayer,"  yet  in  his  talk  he 
could  have  had  no  pleasure.  "He  was  not  able  to  carry  on 
common  conversation,  and  when  he  spoke  at  all,  it  was  a  short 
lecture."  The  young  students  who  were  invited  to  his  house, 
longed  to  be  summoned  from  the  library  to  tea  in  the  drawing- 
room,  where  his  wife  "  maintained  a  continued  conversation  on 
plays,  novels,  poetry,  and  the  fashions."  ; 


DUNDONALD   CASTLE,    AuCHANS   (OCTOBER    30  —  NOVEMBER    2). 

On  Saturday,  October  30,  our  travellers  set  out  on  their  way  to 
Boswell's  home  at  Auchinleck,  in  Ayrshire.      Part  of  the  way  must 

1  Wesley's  Journal,  ii.  286.  '  Dr.  A.  Carlyle's  Autobiography,  p.  69,  and 

''  Pennant's  Voyage  to  the  Hebrides,  ud.  I774>       Johnson's  Bosivell,  v.  68. 
p.   136.  4  Boswell's  Johnson,  ii.  27. 

5  Dr.  A.  Carlyle's  Autobiography,  pp.  68,  83. 


THE    ROAD    TO    AUCHINLECK.  267 

have  been  over  a  wild  country,  for  a  few  years  earlier,  in  his  "  In- 
structions" for  his  friend  Temple  on  his  tour  to  Auchinleck,  he 
writes  :  "  Set  out  [from  Glasgow]  for  Kingswell,  to  which  you  have 
a  good  road  ;  arrived  there,  get  a  guide  to  put  you  through  the 
muir  to  Loudoun."  '  He  and  Johnson  did  not  go  the  whole  dis- 
tance in  one  day,  though  they  had  but  thirty-four  miles  to  travel. 
They  broke  their  journey  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Campbell,  of  Trees- 
bank,  who  had  married  Mrs.  Boswell's  sister.  Here  they  rested 
till  Tuesday.  At  a  few  miles  distance  Robert  Burns,  a  lad  of 
thirteen,  "  a  dexterous  ploughman  for  his  age,"  was  spending  his 
boyhood  "in  unceasing  moil"  and  hardship,  not  having  as  yet 
"  committed  the  sin  of  rhyme."  Boswell,  I  believe,  much  as  he 
admired  Allan  Ramsay's  poem  in  the  Scottish  dialect,  The  Gentle 


DUNDONA1.D   CASTLE. 


Shepherd,  never  makes  mention  of  Burns,  and  Burns  only  once 
mentions  him.  In  the  Author s  Earnest  Cry  and  Prayer,  written 
before  the  year  1786,  he  says  : 

"  Alas  !  I'm  but  a  nameless  wight, 
Trode  i'  the  mire  an'  out  o'  sight  ! 
But  could  I  like  Montgomeries  fight, 

Or  gab 2  like  Boswell, 
There's  some  sark-necks 3  I  wad  draw  tight, 

An'  tie  some  hose  well." 

Dundonald  Castle,  in  which  Robert  II.  lived  and  died,  our  travellers 
visited  on  Monday  morning.  "  It  has  long  been  unroofed,"  writes 
Boswell,  "and  though  of  considerable  size  we  could  not  by  any 
power  of  imagination,  figure  it  as  having  been  a  suitable  habitation 
for  majesty.  Dr.  Johnson,  to  irritate  my  old  Scottish  enthusiasm, 

1  Boswell's  Letters  to  Temple,  p.  98.  3  To  prate.  3  Shirt-collars. 


268  "  KINd    MOB'S"    CASTLE 

was  very  jocular  on   the  homely  accommodation  of   "  King  Jiob," 
and  roared  and  laughed  till  the  ruins  echoed." 

The  castle  belongs  to  two  periods.  The  original  keep  was 
eighty-one  feet  long,  forty  broad,  and  seventy  high.  It  was  after- 
wards lengthened  at  the  southern  end  by  seventeen  feet.  "  The 
great  hall  has  been  a  very  noble  apartment."  '  Boswell  justly 
praises  the  view.  "It  stands,"  he  says,  "on  a  beautiful  rising 
ground,  which  is  seen  at  a  great  distance  on  several  quarters,  and 
from  whence  there  is  an  extensive  prospect  of  the  rich  district  of 
Cuninghame,  the  western  sea,  the  isle  of  Arran,  and  a  part  of  the 
northern  coast  of  Ireland."  Camden  quaintly  says  that  "  the  name 
Cunninghams,  if  one  interpret  it,  is  as  much  as  the  Kings  Habita- 
tion, by  which  a  man  may  guess  how  commodious  and  pleasant  it 
is."  As  I  sat  on  the  Castle  hill,  and  looked  over  the  fine  country 
to  the  north-west,  I  could  have  wished  that  the  tall  chimneys  of 
Irvine,  pouring  forth  clouds  of  smoke,  had  been  out  of  sight.  In 
the  plain,  at  the  distance  of  about  a  mile,  a  thin  line  of  steam 
showed  where  a  heavy  train  was  creeping  along  the  railway.  Just 
beneath  us  the  low  spire  of  the  church  rose  among  the  trees,  while 
in  the  gardens  of  the  cottages  that  clustered  around  it  there  was  an 
abundance  of  fruit  trees  and  of  vegetables  which  would  have  de- 
lighted Johnson's  heart,  such  as  "  King  Bob  "  never  saw  or  even 
dreamt  of.  Beyond  the  village  were  undulating  fields  of  well- 
cultivated  land.  To  the  west,  almost  within  bow-shot,  stands  a 
steep  rocky  hill — a  counterpart  of  that  on  which  the  castle  is 
placed — all  covered  with  wood.  High  over  the  old  ruins  the 
swifts  were  flying  and  screaming.  The  sole  tenants  of  the  great 
hall  were  some  black  cattle  whom  my  entrance  disturbed.  Where 
kings  once  kept  their  court,  and  frowned  and  were  flattered, 

"There  but  houseless  cattle  go 
To  shield  them  from  the  storm." 

High  up  on  the  wall  of  the  keep  there  are  two  stone  shields,  on 
which  still  can  be  traced  the  royal  and  the  Stewart  arms.  Little 
did  they  who  carved  them  think  that  the  day  was  to  come  when 
they  would  have  sunk  into  the  ornaments  of  a  cow-house. 

From  Dundonald  our  travellers  rode  on  a  short  distance 
to  Auchans,  the  house  of  the  Dowager  Countess  of  Eglintoune. 
Johnson,  in  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Thrale,  describes  her  as  "a  lady  who 

1  Macgibbon  and  Ross's  Castellated  and  Domestic  Architecture  of  Scotland,  i.  167,  171. 
1  Description  of  Scotland,  2nd  cd.  p.  68. 


THE   COUNTESS   OF   EGLINTOUNE. 


269 


for  many  years  gave  the  laws  of  elegance  to  Scotland.  She  is  in 
full  vigour  of  mind,  and  not  much  impaired  in  form.  She  is  only 
eighty-three.  She  was  remarking  that  her  marriage  was  in  the 
year  eight ;  and  I  told  her  my  birth  was  in  nine.  '  Then,'  says 
she,  '  I  am  just  old  enough  to  be  your  mother,  and  I  will  take  you 
for  my  son.'  She  called  Boswell  the  boy.  '  Yes,  Madam,'  said  I, 
'  we  will  send  him  to  school.'  '  He  is  already,'  said  she,  'in  a  good 


OLD   AUCHANS. 


school ; '  and  expressed  her  hope  of  his  improvement.  At  last 
night  came,  and  I  was  sorry  to  leave  her."  "  She  had  been,"  writes 
Boswell,  "  the  admiration  of  the  gay  circles  of  life,  and  the  patroness 
of  poets."  To  her  Allan  Ramsay  had  dedicated  his  Gentle  Shep- 
herd, and  Hamilton  of  Bangour  had  addressed  verses.  With  his 
reception  Johnson  was  delighted,  so  congenial  were  their  principles 
in  church  and  state.  "  In  her  bed-rooms,"  says  Dx.  Robert 
Chambers,  "  was  hung  a  portrait  of  her  sovereign  dc  jure,  the  ill- 
starred  Charles  Edward,  so  situated  as  to  be  the  first  object 
which  met  her  sight  on  awaking  in  the  morning."1  She  who 

1  R.  Chambers's  Traditions  of  Edinburgh,  ed.  1869,  p.  217. 


270 


OLD    AUCHANS. 


had  patronised  poets  and  worshipped  princes  in  her  last  years 
amused  herself  l>y  taming  rats.  "  She  had  a  panel  in  the  oak 
wainscot  of  her  dining-room,  which  she  tapped  upon  and  opened 
at  meal-times,  when  ten  or  twelve  jolly  rats  came  tripping  forth 
and  joined  her  at  table."  She  died  in  1780,  at  the  age  of  ninety- 


one. 


Auchans — Old  Auchans  as  it  is  now  called — since  the  countess's 
death  has  been  chielly  inhabited  by  caretakers.  It  was  built  in 
1644,  at  a  time  when  in  the  houses  of  the  great  comfort  was  more 
studied  than  means  of  defence.  Nevertheless  "  we  find  some  shot- 
holes  near  the  entrance  doorway."  :  It  is  finely  placed  among  the 
trees,  with  views  of  Dundonalcl  Castle  on  one  side  and  of  the  sea 
in  the  distance  on  the  other.  The  interior  has  been  greatly  altered 

by  the  division  of  rooms  and 
blocking  up  of  windows  and 
passages.  We  were  only 
shown  a  small  part  of  it,  and 
looked  with  sadness  on  the 
broken  ceiling  in  what  by 
tradition  is  known  as  the 
dining-room.  It  is  a  pity  that 
so  interesting  and  so  fine  a 
building  should  have  suffered 
under  the  neglect  of  a  whole 
century.  It  is  so  strongly 
built  that  it  looks  as  if  it 
could,  at  no  excessive  expense,  be  once  more  made  habitable. 
Johnson  had  not  been  easily  persuaded  to  visit  it,  but  "  he  was  so 
much  pleased  with  his  entertainment,  that  he  owned,"  says  Boswell, 
"  that  I  had  done  well  to  force  him  out."  No  less  pleased  was  the 
old  countess,  "  who,  when  they  were  going  away,  embraced  him, 
saying,  '  My  dear  son,  farewell.' '  Neither  of  this  visit  nor  of  one 
which  he  had  paid  two  days  earlier  to  the  Earl  of  Loudoun,  who 
"jumped  for  joy"  at  the  thought  of  seeing  him,  does  he  make  any 
mention  in  his  book.  He  was  the  last  man  to  indulge  "in  that 
vain  ostentatious  importance,"  which  he  censured  in  many  people, 
"of  quoting  the  authority  of  dukes  and  lords."  He  merely  says 
that,  "on  our  way  from  Glasgow  to  Auchinleck  we  found  several 

1   R.  Chambers's  Traditions  oj  Edinburgh,  ed.  2  Macgibbon  and  Ross's  Castellated  Architec- 

1869,  p.  217.  lecture  of  Scotland,  ii.  174. 


OLD   AUCHANS. 


LORD    AUCHINLECK.  271 

places  remarkable  enough  in  themselves,  but  already  described 
by  those  who  viewed  them  at  more  leisure,  or  with  much  more 
skill." 


AUCIIINLECK  (NOVEMBER  2-8). 

On  Tuesday,  November  2,  our  travellers  having  ordered  a 
chaise  from  Kilmarnock,  drove  to  Auchinleck,  where  they  arrived 
in  time  for  dinner.  "  We  purpose,"  wrote  Johnson  that  same 
evening,  "  to  stay  here  some  days,  more  or  fewer,  as  we  are  used." 
He  said  "  we  "  advisedly,  for  he  knew  that  not  only  between  Lord 
Auchinleck  and  himself  there  was  little  in  common,  but  that  also 
between  the  father  and  son  there  was  no  freedom  of  intercourse. 
"  My  father,"  Boswell  once  complained,  "cannot  bear  that  his  son 
should  talk  with  him  as  a  man."  l  How  uncomfortable  was  his 
position  at  home  is  shown  by  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  his  friend 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Temple  in  September,  1775  : 

"I  came  to  Auchinleck  on  Monday  last,  and  I  have  patiently  lived  at  it  till 
Saturday  evening.  ...  It  is  hardly  credible  how  difficult  it  is  for  a  man  of  my  sen- 
sibility to  support  existence  in  the  family  where  I  now  am.  My  father,  whom  I 
really  both  respect  and  affectionate  (if  that  is  a  word,  for  it  is  a  different  feeling  from 
that  which  is  expressed  by  /we,  which  I  can  say  of  you  from  my  soul),  is  so  different 
from  me.  We  divaricate  so  much,  as  Dr.  Johnson  said,  that  I  am  often  hurt  when, 
I  dare  say,  he  means  no  harm  :  and  he  has  a  method  of  treating  me  which  makes  me 
feel  myself  like  a  timid  boy,  which  to  Boswell  (comprehending  all  that  my  character 
does  in  my  own  imagination  and  in  that  of  a  wonderful  number  of  mankind)  is 
intolerable.  His  wife  too,  whom  in  my  conscience  I  cannot  condemn  for  any 
capital  bad  quality,  is  so  narrow-minded,  and,  I  don't  know  how,  so  set  upon  keeping 
him  under  her  own  management,  and  so  suspicious  and  so  sourishly  tempered  that 
it  requires  the  utmost  exertion  of  practical  philosophy  to  keep  myself  quiet.  I  how- 
ever have  done  so  all  this  week  to  admiration :  nay,  I  have  appeared  good-humoured ; 
but  it  has  cost  me  drinking  a  considerable  quantity  of  strong  beer  to  dull  my 
faculties."  * 

It  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  he  is  describing  the  position 
Which  he  himself  held  at  home,  in  an  essay  which  he  published  in 
the  London  Magazine  in  1781  (p.  253)  : 

"  I  knew  a  father  who  was  a  violent  Whig,  and  used  to  attack  his  son  for  being 
a  Tory,  upbraiding  him  with  being  deficient  in  '  noble  sentiments  of  liberty,'  while 
at  the  same  time  he  made  this  son  live  under  his  roof  in  such  bondage,  that  he  was 
not  only  afraid  to  stir  from  home  without  leave,  like  a  child,  but  durst  scarcely  open 

1   Letters  of  Boswell  to  Temple,  p.  255.  2  /*.,  p.  215. 


272  BOSWKU.'S    DUTCH    BLOOD. 

his  mouth  in  his  father's  presence.  This  was  sad  living.  Yet  I  would  rather  see 
such  an  excess  of  awe  than  a  degree  of  familiarity  between  father  and  son  by  which 
all  reverence  is  destroyed." 

Lord  Auchinlcck  had  taken  unto  himself  a  second  wife  on  the 
very  day  of  his  son's  marriage.      She  was,  in  all  likelihood,  in  the 
house    at    the   time   of  Johnson's    visit,    but   neither   by  him    nor 
Boswell  is  she  once  mentioned.      She  remained,  no  doubt,  silent 
and    insignificant.      With    their    reception    they    must    have    been 
satisfied  on   the  whole,  as  they  prolonged  their  stay  till  the  sixth 
day,  in  spite  of  the  famous  altercation  which  Boswell's  piety  forbade 
him  to  record  at  any  length.     That  only  one  such  scene   should 
have   occurred   speaks   well  for  the   self-control  both  of  host  and 
guest.    To  Boswell  Johnson  had  quickly  become  attached.    "  Give 
me  your  hand,"  he  said  to  him  in  the  first  weeks  of  their  acquain- 
tance, "  I   have  taken  a  liking  to  you."     A  month  or  so  later  he 
added,  "  There  are  few  people  to  whom  I  take  so  much  as  to  you." 
But  Lord  Auchinleck,  though  he  might  have  respected  he  never 
could  have  liked.     No  men  were  more  unlike  in  everything  but 
personal  appearance,  than  Boswell  and  his  father.      The  old  man 
had  none  of  that  "  facility  of  manners,"  of  which,  according  to  Adam 
Smith,  the  son  "  was  happily  possessed."       Whence  he  got  it  we 
are  nowhere  told — perhaps  from  his  mother.      It  certainly  was  not 
from  his  paternal  grandfather,  the  old  advocate,  "  who  was  a  slow, 
dull  man  of  unwearied  perseverance  and  immeasurable  length  in  his 
speeches.      It  was  alleged  he  never  understood  a  cause  till  he  had 
lost    it    thrice."1       There    were    those    who    attributed    Boswell's 
eccentricities    to   his   great    grandmother,    Veronica,    Countess    of 
Kincardine,   a   Dutch   lady  of  the   noble   house  of  Sommelsdyck. 
"  For  this  marriage,"  writes  Ramsay  of  Ochtertyre,  "  their  posterity 
paid  dear,  for  most  of  them  had  peculiarities  which  they  had  better 
have  wanted."    He  adds  that  "  Boswell's  behaviour  on  the  occasion 
of  the  riots  in  Edinburgh  about  the  Douglas  cause,  savoured  so 
much   of  insanity,   that   it  was  generally  imputed    to    his    Dutch 
blood. ";      Why  madness  was  supposed  to  come  from   Holland  I 
do  not  know.     Sir  William  Temple,  writing  of  that  country,  says  : 
"  In  general  all  appetites  and    passions  seem  to  run    lower  and 
cooler  here  than  in  other  countries  where  I  have  conversed.  Their 
tempers    are  not  airy   enough  for  joy  or  any  unusual   strains  of 

1  Correspondence  of  Bos-ivell  ami  Erskine,  eel.  *  Scotland  and  Scotsmen  of  the   Eighteenth 

1879,  p.  26.  Century,  i.  161. 

'  Scotland  and  Scotsmen  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  i.  161,  173. 


AUCHINLECK    LIBRARY. 


273 


pleasant  humour,   nor  warm   enough  for  love.     This  is  talked  of  some- 
times among  the  younger  men,  but  as  a  thing  they  have  heard  of  rather 

than  felt ;  and  as  a  discourse 
that  becomes  them  rather 
than  affects  them."  '  All 
this  was  the  very  reverse 
of  Boswell's  eager  and  wild 
youth,  though  perhaps  not 


unlike  the  character 
of  his  father  and 
grandfather.  There 
was  one  thing  in 
common  between 
Johnson  and  the  old 
judge,  both  were 
sound  scholars.  At 
Auchinleck  there 


was  a  library  "  which," 
says  Boswell,"  in  curious 
editions  of  the  Greek 
and  Roman  classics  is, 
I  suppose,  not  excelled 
by  any  private  collec- 
tion in  Great  Britain." 

1  Temple's  Works,  ed.  1757,  i.  160. 


AUCHINLECK. 
N     N 


274  LORD    AUCHINLECK. 

Here  Johnson  found  an  edition  of  Anacreon  which  he  had  long 
sought  in  vain.  "  They  had  therefore  much  matter  for  conversation 
without  touching  on  the  fatal  topics  of  difference."  In  all  questions 
of  Church  and  State  they  were  wide  as  the  poles  asunder.  In 
the  perfect  confidence  which  each  man  had  in  his  own  judgment 
there  was  nothing  to  choose  between  them. 

"  My  father,"  writes  Boswell,  "was  as  sanguine  a  Whig  and  Presbyterian  as  Dr. 
Johnson  was  a  Tory  and  Church-of-England  man  :  and  as  he  had  not  much  leisure 
to  lie  informed  of  Dr.  Johnson's  great  merits  by  reading  his  works,  he  had  a  partial 
and  unfavourable  notion  of  him,  founded  on  his  supposed  political  tenets  ;  which 
were  so  discordant  to  his  own,  that  instead  of  speaking  of  him  with  that  respect  to 
which  he  was  entitled,  he  used  to  call  him  '  a  Jacobite  fellow.'  Knowing  all  this,  I 
should  not  have  ventured  to  bring  them  together,  had  not  my  father,  out  of  kindness 
to  me,  desired  me  to  invite  Dr.  Johnson  to  his  house.  I  was  very  anxious  that  all 
should  be  well ;  and  begged  of  my  friend  to  avoid  three  topics,  as  to  which  they 
differed  very  widely ;  \Vhiggism,  Fresbyterianism,  and — Sir  John  Fringle.  He  said 
courteously,  '  I  shall  certainly  not  talk  on  subjects  which  I  am  told  are  disagreeable 
to  a  gentleman  under  whose  roof  I  am  ;  especially,  I  shall  not  do  so  to  your  father?  ' 

Yet  with  all  Lord  Auchinleck's  gravity  and  contempt  of  his 
son's  flightiness,  he  had  known  what  it  was  not  only  to  be  young, 
but  to  be  foolish.  Like  so  many  of  the  young  Scotchmen  of  old, 
he  had  been  sent  to  Holland  to  study  civil  law.  Thence  he  had 
made  his  way  to  Paris,  where  he  had  played  the  fop.  Years  after- 
wards one  of  the  companions  of  his  youth,  meeting  his  son  at  Lord 
Kames's  table,  "  told  him  that  he  had  seen  his  father  strutting 
abroad  in  red-heeled  shoes  and  red  stockings.  The  lad  was  so 
much  diverted  with  it  that  he  could  hardly  sit  on  his  chair  for 
laughing."  J  His  appointment  as  judge  he  owed  to  that  most 
corrupt  of  Whig  ministers,  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,2  and  he  was  as 
Whiggish  as  his  patron.  King  William  III.,  "one  of  the  most 
worthless  scoundrels  that  ever  existed,"  according  to  Johnson,  was 
to  him  the  greatest  hero  in  modern  times.  Presbyterianism  he 
loved  all  the  more  because  it  was  a  cheap  religion,  and  narrowed 
the  power  of  the  clergy.  He  laid  it  clown  as  a  rule  that  a  poor 
clergy  was  ever  a  pure  clergy.  He  added  that  in  former  times 
they  had  timber  communion  cups  and  silver  ministers,  but  now 
we  were  getting  silver  cups  and  timber  ministers.3  According 
to  Sir  Walter  Scott  he  carried  "  his  Whiggery  and  Presbyte- 

1  Scotland     and     Scotsmen,    \.     161.       The       I   take  care  to   have   my   clothes  well    made." 
Earl  of  Chesterfield,  writing  to  his  son  in  the       Letters  to  his  Son,  ed.  1774,  iii.  227. 
year  I751!  says:  "I  do  not  indeed  wear  feathers  3  Historical  Manuscripts  Commission,    1874, 

and  red  heels,  which  would  ill  suit  my  age  ;  but       p.  531. 

3  Scotland  and  Scotsmen,  &c.,  \,  170;  ii.  556. 


LORI)    AUCHINLECK.  275 

rianism  to  such  a  height,  that  once,  when  a  countryman  came  in 
to  state  some  justice  business,  and  being  required  to  make  his  oath, 
declined  to  do  so  before  his  lordship,  because  he  was  not  a 
covenanted  magistrate — '  Is  that  a'  your  objection,  mon  ? '  said  the 
judge  :  '  come  your  ways  in  here,  and  we'll  baith  of  us  tak  the 
solemn  league  and  covenant  together.'  The  oath  was  accordingly 
agreed  and  sworn  to  by  both,  and  I  dare  say  it  was  the  last  time  it 
ever  received  such  homage."  He  would  have  nothing  to  do  with 
clearing  his  tongue  of  Scotticisms,  or  with  smoothing  and  rounding 
his  periods  on  the  model  of  the  English  classical  authors.  "  His 
Scotch  was  broad  and  vulgar."1  In  one  thing  at  all  events  he  was 
sure  of  receiving  Johnson's  warm  approval.  He  was  a  great 
planter  of  trees.  "  It  was,"  he  said,  "his  favourite  recreation.  In 
his  vacations  he  used  to  prune  with  his  own  hands  the  trees  which 
he  himself  had  planted.  Beginning  at  five  in  the  morning,  he 
wrought  with  his  knife  every  spare  hour.  Of  Auchinleck  he  was 
passionately  foncl.":  He  was  not  the  man  to  prefer  Fleet  Street 
to  the  beauties  of  Nature.  "  I  perceive  some  dawnings  of  taste  for 
the  country,"  wrote  his  son  on  one  of  his  visits  to  his  old  home. 
"I  will  force  a  taste  for  rural  beauties."  He  never  succeeded 
in  the  attempt,  and  though  he  often  boasted  of  "  walking  among 
the  rocks  and  woods  of  his  ancestors,"  it  was  from  a  distance  that 
he  most  admired  them. 

Rarely  were  two  men  more  unlike.  The  old  man  had  in  excess 
that  foresight  which  in  Boswell  was  so  largely  wanting.  He  had 
built  himself  a  new  house,  which  Johnson  describes  as  "  very  mag- 
nificent and  very  convenient ; "  but  he  had  proceeded  "  so  slowly 
and  prudently  that  he  hardly  felt  the  expense."  r'  Across  the  front 

of  it  he  put  the  inscription— 

"  Quod  pctis  hie  est, 
Est  Ulubris,  animus  si  te  non  deficit  aequus."0 

"  It  is,"  writes  Boswell,  "  characteristic  of  the  founder  ;  hut  the  animus  (eqiius  is, 
alas  !  not  inheritable,  nor  the  subject  of  devise.  He  always  talked'  to  me  as  if  it 
were  in  a  man's  own  power  to  attain  it ;  but  Dr.  Johnson  told  me  that  he  owned  to 
him,  when  they  were  alone,  his  persuasion  that  it  was  in  a  great  measure  constitu- 
tional, or  the  effect  of  causes  which  do  not  depend  on  ourselves,  and  that  Horace 
boasts  too  much  when  he  says,  tzqiium  mi  aniimtm  ipse  paralio." 

'  Itosvvell's_/0/i»TO«,  v.  382,  n.  2.  ''   "  The  peace  yen  seek  is  here — where  is  it 

2  Scotland  and  Scotsmen,  &=f.,  ii.  543.  not? 

3  Ib.  \.  166.  If  your  own  mint!  be  equal  to  the  Int." 

1  Letters  of  Boswell  to  Temple,  pp.  216,  219.  CKOKER. 

J  Scotland  and  Scotsmen,  OTY.  ,  i.  166. 


276  JAMES   BOSWKLL. 

lie  had,  too,  that  sobriety  of  character  in  which  his  son  was  so 
conspicuously  wanting.  "  Mis  age,  his  office,  and  his  character, 
had  given  him  an  acknowledged  claim  to  great  attention  in  what- 
ever company  he  was,  and  he  could  ill  brook  any  diminution  of 
it."  He  was  by  no  means  deficient  in  humour,  and  in  this  respect 
father  and  son  were  alike.  "  He  had  a  great  many  good  stories, 
which  he  told  uncommonly  well,  and  he  was  remarkable  for 
'  humour,  incolumi  gravitate'  as  Lord  Monbocldo  used  to  cha- 
racterize it." 

The  contrast  between  his  dignity  and  gravity,  and  Boswell's 
bustling  and  most  comical  liveliness,  must  have  been  as  amusing 
as  it  was  striking.  His  ignorance  of  his  son's  genius,  and  the 
contempt  for  him  which  he  did  not  conceal,  heightened  the  picture. 
Johnson's  presence  would  have  greatly  added  to  the  interest  of 
the  scene,  for  Boswell  must  have  constantly  wavered  between  his 
admiration  of  his  idol  and  his  awe  of  his  father.  A  few  years 
later  Miss  Burney  met  Boswell  at  Streatham,  and  thus  describes 
him,  no  doubt  with  a  good  deal  of  exaggeration  : 

"  He  spoke  the  Scotch  accent  strongly.  He  had  an  odd  mock  solemnity  of 
manner,  that  he  had  acquired  imperceptibly  from  constantly  thinking  of  and 
imitating  Dr.  Johnson.  There  was  something  slouching  in  his  gait  and  dress,  that 
wore  an  air,  ridiculously  enough,  of  purporting  to  personify  the  same  model.  His 
clothes  were  always  too  large  for  him ;  his  hair  or  wig  was  constantly  in  a  state  of 
negligence  ;  and  he  never  for  a  moment  sat  still  or  upright  upon  a  chair.  When  he 
met  with  Dr.  Johnson  he  commonly  forbore  even  answering  anything  that  was  said, 
or  attending  to  anything  that  went  forward,  lest  he  should  miss  the  smallest  sound 
from  that  voice  to  which  he  paid  such  exclusive  homage.  His  eyes  goggled  with 
eagerness ;  he  leant  his  ear  almost  on  the  shoulder  of  the  Doctor ;  and  his  mouth 
dropt  open  to  catch  every  syllable  that  might  be  uttered.  The  Doctor  generally 
treated  him  as  a  schoolboy,  whom  without  the  smallest  ceremony  he  pardoned  or 
rebuked  alternately." ' 

It  is  probable  that  this  description  is  heightened  by  Miss 
Burney's  wounded  vanity.  Boswell  had  not  read  her  Evelina,  and 
when  he  was  reproached  by  Johnson  with  being  a  Brangton— one 
of  the  characters  in  the  novel — he  did  not  know  what  was  meant. 
She  was  as  careful  in  recording  the  conversation  that  was  about 
herself  as  Boswell  was  in  recording  Johnson's.  Her  great  hero 
was  herself.  The  voices  to  which  she  paid  her  homage  were  those 
in  which  she  was  praised  and  flattered. 

In  another  place  she  describes  "  the  singularity  of  his  comic- 
serious  face  and  manner."  :  He  himself  has  more  than  once  drawn 

1  Memoirs  of  Dr.  Burney,  ii.  191-4.  *  Madame  d'Arblay's  Diary,  ed.  1843,  v.  166' 


JAMES    BOSWELL.  277 

his  own  character.  He  was,  he  flattered  himself,  a  citixen  of  the 
world;  one  who  in  his  travels  never  felt  himself  from  home.  In 
that  impudent  Correspondence  which  he  and  his  friend  Andrew 
Erskine  published  when  they  were  still  almost  lads,  he  thus 
describes  himself: 

"  The  author  of  the  Ode  to  Tragedy  is  a  most  excellent  man  ;  he  is  of  an  ancient 
family  in  the  west  of  Scotland,  upon  which  he  values  himself  not  a  little.  At  his 
nativity  there  appeared  omens  of  his  future  greatness.  His  parts  are  bright;  and 
his  education  has  been  good.  He  has  travelled  in  post-chaises  miles  without 
number.  He  is  fond  of  seeing  much  of  the  world.  He  eats  of  every  good  dish, 
especially  apple-pie.  He  drinks  old  hock.  He  has  a  very  fine  temper.  He  is 
somewhat  of  an  humorist,  and  a  little  tinctured  with  pride.  He  has  a  good  manly 
countenance,  and  he  owns  himself  to  be  amorous  He  has  infinite  vivacity,  yet  is 
observed  at  times  to  have  a  melancholy  cast.  He  is  rather  fat  than  lean,  rather 
short  than  tall,  rather  young  than  old.  His  shoes  are  neatly  made,  and  he  never 
wears  spectacles."  ' 

We  have  a  later  description  of  him  again  by  his  own  hand,  as 
he  was  at  the  time  of  his  tour  with  Johnson. 

"  Think,  then  (he  says),  of  a  gentleman  of  ancient  blood,  the  pride  of  which 
was  his  predominant  passion.  He  was  then  in  his  thirty-third  year,  and  had  been 
about  four  years  happily  married.  His  inclination  was  to  be  a  soldier;  but  his 
father,  a  respectable  judge,  had  pressed  him  into  the  profession  of  the  law.  He 
had  travelled  a  good  deal,  and  seen  many  varieties  of  human  life.  He  had  thought 
more  than  anybody  supposed,  and  had  a  pretty  good  stock  of  general  learning  and 
knowledge.  He  had  all  Dr.  Johnson's  principles,  with  some  degree  of  relaxation. 
He  had  rather  too  little,  than  too  much  prudence;  and,  his  imagination  being 
lively,  he  often  said  things  of  which  the  effect  was  very  different  from  the  intention. 
He  resembled  sometimes 

'  The  best  good  man,  with  the  worst  natur'd  muse.' " 

Johnson  celebrated  his  good  humour  and  perpetual  cheerful- 
ness, his  acuteness,  his  gaiety  of  conversation,  and  civility  of 
manners.  "  He  was,"  he  said,  "  the  best  travelling  companion  in 
the  world."  According  to  Burke,  "  his  good  nature  was  so  natural 
to  him  that  he  had  no  merit  in  possessing  it.  A  man  might  as  well 
assume  to  himself  merit  in  possessing  an  excellent  constitution." 
Reynolds  loved  him  so  well  that  "  he  left  him  ,£200  in  his  will,  to 
be  expended,  if  he  thought  proper,  in  the  purchase  of  a  picture  at 
the  sale  of  his  paintings,  to  be  kept  for  his  sake."  :  In  a  memoir 
of  him  in  the  Scots  Magazine  he  is  described  as  "  a  most  pleasant 
companion,  affectionate  and  friendly  ;  but,  particularly  in  his  latter 
days,  he  betrayed  a  vanity  which  seemed  to  predominate."  :  Tytler 

'   Boswell's  Correspondence  with  Erskine,  ed.  *  Boswell'sy<i/;».r0;/,  i.  II  ;  iii.  362;  v.  52. 

1879,  p.  36.  3  Scots  Magazine,  1797,  p.  292. 


278  THE    COLLISION    IN    THE    LIBRARY. 

praises  "  his  sprightly  fancy  and  whimsical  eccentricity,"  which 
"  agreeably  tempered  the  graver  conversation  "  of  Adam  Smith 
or  Hugh  Blair  at  the  small  and  select  parties  given  by  Lord 
Kames.1 

He  was  welcome  everywhere  but  at  his  own  father's  house. 
Neither  was  he  the  better  thought  of  by  the  old  man  on  account 
of  the  great  Englishman  whom  he  brought  with  him.  Everything 
however  went  off  smoothly  for  a  day  or  two,  but  the  host  and  his 
<niest  at  length  came  in  collision  over  Lord  Auchinleck's  collection 

£>  O 

of  medals.  The  scene  is  thus  described  by  Boswell,  who  wit- 
nessed it  : 

"Oliver  Cromwell's  coin  unfortunately  introduced  Charles  the  First  and 
Toryism.  They  became  exceedingly  warm  and  violent,  and  I  was  very  much  dis- 
tressed by  being  present  at  such  an  altercation  between  two  men,  both  of  whom  I 
reverenced  ;  yet  I  durst  not  interfere.  It  would  certainly  be  very  unbecoming  in 
me  to  exhibit  my  honoured  father  and  my  respected  friend,  as  intellectual  gladiators, 
for  the  entertainment  of  the  public ;  and,  therefore,  I  suppress  what  would,  I  dare 
say,  make  an  interesting  scene  in  this  dramatic  sketch — this  account  of  the  transit 
of  Johnson  over  the  Caledonian  Hemisphere." 

Ramsay  of  Ochtertyre  says,  that  the  year  after  this  famous 
altercation,  Lord  Auchinleck  "  told  him  with  warmth  that  the 
great  Dr.  Johnson,  of  whom  he  had  heard  wonders,  was  just  a 
dominie,  and  the  worst-bred  dominie  he  had  ever  seen."  The 
account  which  Sir  Walter  Scott  gives  is  very  dramatic,  though  no 
doubt  somewhat  embellished. 

"  Old  Lord  Auchinleck  (he  writes)  was  an  able  lawyer,  a  good  scholar,  after  the 
manner  of  Scotland,  and  highly  valued  his  own  advantages  as  a  man  of  good  estate 
and  ancient  family ;  and,  moreover,  he  was  a  strict  Presbyterian  and  Whig  of  the 
old  Scottish  cast.  This  did  not  prevent  his  being  a  terribly  proud  aristocrat ;  and 
great  was  the  contempt  he  entertained  and  expressed  for  his  son  James,  for  the 
nature  of  his  friendships  and  the  character  of  the  personages  of  whom  he  was  engoi/e 
one  after  another.  'There's  nae  hope  for  Jamie,  mon,'  he  said  to  a  friend.  'Jamie 
is  gaen  clean  gyte.3  What  do  you  think,  mon?  He's  done  wi'  Paoli — he's  off  wi' 
the  land-louping '  scoundrel  of  a  Corsican  ;  and  whose  tail  do  you  think  he  has 
pinned  himself  to  now,  mon  ?  '  Here  the  old  judge  summoned  up  a  sneer  of  most 
sovereign  contempt.  '  A  dominie,  mon — an  auld  dominie :  he  keeped  a  schiile,  and 
cau'd  it  an  acaadamy." 

The  full  force  of  Lord  Auchinleck's  contempt  is  only  seen 
when  we  understand  the  position  of  a  dominie.  The  character  of 
a  schoolmaster,  generally,  according  to  Johnson,  was  less  honour- 

1  Tytler's  Life  of  Lor 'J  frames,  ii.  228.  4  Lotip  is  a  cognate  word  with  leap,  and  sig- 

2  Scotland  and  Scotsmen,  i.  176.  nifies  to  run.     A  landlouper  is  a  runagate  ;  one 
''  Crazy.                                                                        constantly  shifting  from  one  plate  to  another. 


SCOTCH    DOMINIES.  279 

able  in  Scotland  than  in  England.1  But  the  dominie,  or  tutor  in  a 
family,  was  still  less  esteemed.  "  He  was  raised,"  writes  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  "  from  a  humble  class  to  a  society  where,  whatever  his  per- 
sonal attainments  might  be,  he  found  himself  placed  at  a  humiliating 
distance  from  anything  like  a  footing  of  equality.  His  remunera- 
tion was  scanty  in  the  extreme,  and  consisting  (as  if  to  fill  up  the 
measure  of  his  dependence)  not  entirely  of  a  fixed  salary,  but 
partly  of  the  precarious  prospect  of  future  preferment  in  the 
Church.  The  Scotch  dominie  was  assuredly  one  of  the  most 
pitiable  of  human  beings."  :  It  is  a  curious  and  perhaps  a  some- 
what suspicious  fact,  that  a  very  few  years  before  Sir  Walter 
supplied  Mr.  Croker  with  this  amusing  story  about  the  old  judge, 
he  had  put  on  record  in  the  pages  of  the  Quarterly  Review  the 
following  anecdote  :  "  When  the  old  Scots  judge  Lord  Auchinleck 
first  heard  of  Johnson's  coming  to  visit  him  at  his  rural  castcllum, 
he  held  up  his  hands  in  astonishment,  and  cried  out,  '  Our  Jeemy's 
clean  aff  the  hooks  now!  would  ony  body  believe  it?  he's  bringing 
down  a  dominie  wi'  him — an  aulcl  dominie.'  "  This  looks  like  a 
different  version  of  the  same  story.  Moreover,  Boswell  tells  us 
that  his  father  had  desired  him  to  invite  him  to  his  house.  When 
Johnson  called  his  school  at  Lichfield  an  academy,  he  does  not 
seem  to  have  used  the  term  pretentiously,  for  in  his  Dictionary 
he  defines  the  word  under  one  of  its  meanings  as  "  a  place  of 
education  in  contradistinction  to  the  universities  or  public  schools." 
It  does  not  seem  likely,  moreover,  that  Lord  Auchinleck  had  any 
feeling  of  contempt  for  Pascal  Paoli,  a  man  of  good  family,  who  for 
years  had  headed  a  rebellion  against  the  tyranny  first  of  Genoa 
and  afterwards  of  France.  He  had  visited  Auchinleck  two  years 
before  Johnson,  and  had  been  well  received.  Boswell,  writing  to 
Garrick  on  September  18,  1771,  said  :  "  I  have  just  been  enjoying 
the  very  great  happiness  of  a  visit  from  my  illustrious  friend, 
Pascal  Paoli.  He  was  two  nights  at  Auchinleck,  and  you  may 
figure  the  joy  of  my  worthy  father  and  me  at  seeing  the  Corsican 
hero  in  our  romantic  groves.  Count  Burgynski,  the  Polish 
ambassador,  accompanied  him."  4  Poland's  days  of  sending  am- 
bassadors had  nearly  drawn  to  an  end,  for  the  first  partition  of  the 
country  was  made  in  the  following  year.  It  was  a  strange  chance 
which  brought  the  last  Corsican  patriot  and  the  last  Polish  ambas- 

1  Johnson's  Works,  ix.  158.  3  Ib. 

*  Quarterly  Review,  No.  71,  p.  225.  '   Garrick  Correspondence,  \.  436. 


280  THE    "I.ITH"    IN    THE    NECKS    OF    KINGS. 

sador  to  this  Ayrshire  mansion.  One  thing  only  was  wanting. 
Would  that  Burns  that  day  had  played  truant  and  had  wandered 
up  "Lugar's  winding  stream"  as  far  as  Auchinleck!  It  would, 
indeed,  have  formed  an  interesting  group — the  stiff  old  Scotch 
judge  and  his  famous  son,  the  great  Corsican  patriot  and  the  Pole, 
with  the  peasant-lad  gazing  at  them  with  his  eyes  full  of  beauty 
and  wonder.  Paoli's  name  is  well-nigh  forgotten  now,  but  he  and 
his  Corsicans  deeply  stirred  the  hearts  of  our  forefathers.  Boswell, 
by  a  private  subscription  in  Scotland,  had  sent  out  to  him  in  one 
week  £joo  worth  of  ordnance — "a  tolerable  train  of  artillery."' 
His  account  of  his  tour  in  that  island  had  been  widely  read.  Even 
his  father  "  was  rather  fond  of  it.  '  James,'  he  said,  '  had  taken  a 
tout  on  a  new  horn.'  ':  Whether  Lord  Auchinleck  abused  Paoli 
"  as  a  land-louping  scoundrel  of  a  Corsican,"  or  admired  him  as  he 
admired  other  great  patriots,  the  rest  of  Sir  Walter  Scott's  account 
of  the  great  altercation  may  be  true  enough  : 

"The  controversy  between  Tory  and  Covenanter  raged  with  great  fury,  and 
ended  in  Johnson's  pressing  upon  the  old  judge  the  question,  what  good  Cromwell, 
of  whom  lie  had  said  something  derogatory,  had  ever  done  to  his  country  ;  when, 
after  being  much  tortured,  Lord  Auchinleck  at  last  spoke  out,  'God,  Doctor!  he 
gart  kings  ken  that  they  had  a  lith  in  their  neck ' — he  taught  kings  they  had  a.  joint 
in  their  necks." 

This  story  did  not,  I  believe,  appear  in  print  till  the  year  1831, 
when  it  was  given  as  a  note  by  Scott  in  Mr.  Croker's  edition  of 
Boswell.  Fifty  years  earlier  it  had  been  told  in  somewhat  different 
words  of  Quin  the  player,  who  had  said  that  "on  a  thirtieth  of 
January  every  king  in  Europe  would  rise  with  a  crick  in  his  neck." 
Davies,  who  records  the  anecdote,  says  that  it  had  been  attributed 
to  Voltaire,  but  unjustly/'  It  is  possible,  and  even  not  unlikely, 
that  we  have  but  a  Scotch  version  of  an  English  saying.  Cromwell 
himself,  in  his  letter  to  the  governor  of  Edinburgh  Castle,  had 
shown  that  he  too  saw  this  consequence  of  his  great  deed.  "  The 
civil  authority,"  he  writes,  "  turned  out  a  Tyrant  in  a  way  which 
the  Christians  in  aftertimes  will  mention  with  honour,  and  all 
Tyrants  in  the  world  look  at  with  fear."  x 

In  one  happy  though  impudent  retort,  Lord  Auchinleck  was 
very  successful. 

"  Dr.  Johnson  challenged   him  (writes  Boswell)  to  point  out  any  theological 

1  Letters  of  Boswell  to  Temple,  p.  156.  3  Davies's  Life  of  Garrick,  ii.  115. 

1  Scotland  and  Scotsmen,  &c.,  i.  172.     Tout  4  Cromwell's  Litters  and  Speeches,  ed.  1857, 

is  the  blast  of  a  horn.  ii.  209. 


DURHAM    ON   THE    GALATIANS.  281 

works  of  merit  written  by  Presbyterian  ministers  in  Scotland.  My  father,  whose 
studies  did  not  lie  much  in  that  way,  owned  to  me  afterwards,  that  he  was  some- 
what at  a  loss  how  to  answer,  but  that  luckily  he  recollected  having  read  in  cata- 
logues the  title  of  Durham  on  the  Galatians  ;  upon  which  he  boldly  said,  '  Pray, 
Sir,  have  your  read  Mr.  Durham's  excellent  commentary  on  the  Galatians?'  'No, 
Sir,'  said  Dr.  Johnson.  By  this  lucky  thought  my  father  kept  him  at  bay,  and  for 
some  time  enjoyed  his  triumph  ;  but  his  antagonist  soon  made  a  retort,  which  I  for- 
bear to  mention." 

In  the  long  list  of  Durham's  theological  works  in  the  British 
Museum  catalogue  I  find  no  mention  of  this  book  on  the  Galatians. 
The  old  judge,  it  is  clear,  had  not  forgotten  in  the  years  which  he 
had  sat  on  the  bench  the  arts  of  the  advocate.  In  Rowlandson's 
Caricatures  there  is  a  humorous  picture  of  The  Contest  at  Auchin- 
leck.  Johnson  is  drawn  felling  his  opponent  with  a  huge  liturgy, 
having  made  him  drop  two  books  equally  big,  entitled  Calvin  and 
Wkiggism.  On  the  floor  are  lying  the  medals  over  which  the  dis- 
pute had  begun,  while  Boswell  is  at  the  door  in  an  attitude  of 
despair,  with  his  Journal  falling  from  his  hands. 

One  figure  was  wanting  to  make  the  picture  complete.  Of  the 
three  topics  on  which  Johnson  had  been  warned  not  to  touch  only 
two  had  been  introduced.  "In  the  course  of  their  altercation," 
writes  Boswell,  "  Whiggism  and  Presbyterianism,  Toryism  and 
Episcopacy,  were  terribly  buffeted.  My  worthy  hereditary  friend, 
Sir  John  Pringle,  never  having  been  mentioned,  happily  escaped 
without  a  bruise."  We  could  have  wished  that  he  had  been  men- 
tioned, for  though  we  know  of  the  dislike  which  existed  between 
the  two  men,  yet  as  he  has  never  "hitched"  in  one  of  Johnson's 
strong  sayings,  he  has  scarcely  attained  that  fame  which  he 
deserved. 

Towards  Lord  Auchinleck  Johnson  bore  no  resentment.  With 
him  the  heat  of  altercation  soon  passed  away,  but  not  the  memory 
of  the  hospitality  which  he  had  received  in  his  house.  In  not  a 
single  word  spoken  or  written  has  he  attacked  him.  On  the  con- 
trary, in  his  Journey  to  the  Western  Islands,  he  only  mentions  him 
to  praise  him.  When,  six  years  later,  he  published  the  first  four 
volumes  of  his  Lives  oj the  Poets,  he  wrote  to  Boswell :  "  Write  me 
word  to  whom  I  shall  send  sets  of  Lives ;  would  it  please  Lord 
Auchinleck  ?  "  A  few  months  after  this  he  wrote  to  him  :  "  Let 
me  know  what  reception  you  have  from  your  father,  and  the  state 
of  his  health.  Please  him  as  much  as  you  can,  and  add  no  pain  to 
his  last  years."  The  old  lord  was  not  so  placable.  He  had  that 

o  o 


282  LORD   AUCHINLECK'S    RESENTMENT. 

"want  of  tenderness  which,"  said  Johnson,  "is  want  of  parts." 
This  part  of  his  character  is  seen  in  the  following  anecdote  re- 
corded of  him  by  his  son  : 

"  I  mentioned  to  Johnson  a  respectable  person  of  a  very  strong  mind,  who  had 
little  of  that  tenderness  which  is  common  to  human  nature  ;  as  an  instance  of  which, 
when  I  suggested  to  him  that  he  should  invite  his  son,  who  had  been  settled  ten 
years  in  foreign  parts,  to  come  home  and  pay  him  a  visit,  his  answer  was,  '  No,  no, 
let  him  mind  his  business.'  JOHNSON.  '  I  do  not  agree  with  him,  Sir,  in  this. 
Getting  money  is  not  all  a  man's  business  :  to  cultivate  kindness  is  a  valuable  part 
of  the  business  of  life.' " 

He  had   what    Boswell   calls   "the  dignified    courtesy    of  an    old 
Baron,"   and    when    Johnson   left    "  was    very    civil    to    him,   and 
politely  attended  him  to  his  post  chaise."     But  he  was  not  in  the 
least  soothed  by  the  compliments  which  he  paid  him  in  his  book. 
Boswell  had  hoped  that  he  might  be  moved.     Writing  to  Johnson 
just  after  it  had  been  published,  he  said  :  "  You  have  done  Auchin- 
leck  much  honour,  and  have,  I  hope,  overcome  my  father,  who  has 
never  forgiven  your  warmth  for  monarchy  and  episcopacy.     I  am 
anxious  to  see  how  your  pages  will   operate  upon   him."         His 
anxious  wish  was  grievously  disappointed.     A  few  months  later  he 
wrote  to  his  friend  Temple  :  "  My  father  is  most  unhappily  dis- 
satisfied with  me.  .  .  .   He  harps  on  my  going  over  Scotland  with 
a  brute  (think  how  shockingly  erroneous  !)  and  wandering  (or  some 
such  phrase)  to   London.      How  hard  it  is  that  I  am  totally  ex- 
cluded from  parental  comfort  !     I  have  a  mind  to  go  to  Auchinleck 
next  autumn,  and  try  what  living  in  a  mixed  stupidity  of  attention 
to  common  objects  and  restraint  from  expressing  any  of  my  own 
feelings  can  do  with  him."  *     When  his  father  and  Johnson  were 
both  dead  he  indulged  in  the  pious  hope  that  "  as  they  were  both 
worthy  Christian  men,  they  had  met  in  happiness.      But  I    must 
observe,"  he  adds,  "injustice  to  my  friend's  political  principles  and 
my  own,  that  they  have  met  in  a  place  where  there  is  no  room  for 
Whiggism."     Johnson,  it  is  true,  "  always  said  the  first  Whig  was 
the  Devil,"  but  on  the  other  hand,  some  Presbyterian  who  drew  up 
an  epitaph  on  Lochiel,  declared  in  it  that  he  "  is  now  a  Whig  in 
heaven." 3 

That  pride  in  his  ancient  blood,  which  Boswell  boasted  was  his 
predominant  passion,  was  very  strong  in  the  old  lord.  In  the  son, 
if  it  really  existed  in  any  strength,  it  was  happily  overpowered  by 

1  Croker's  Boswell,  8vo.  ed.  p.  826.  "  Letters  of  Boswell  to  Temple,  p.  207. 

3  Quarterly  Review,  No.  71,  p.  209. 


SIR    ALEXANDER   BOSWELL.  283 

a  host  of  other  and  better  feelings.  He  had  travelled  widely,  he 
had  seen  a  great  variety  of  men,  some  of  them  among  the  most 
famous  of  their  age,  and  had  learnt  to  value  genius  without 
troubling  himself  about  its  pedigree.  His  successors  at  Auchinleck 
had  something  of  the  narrowness  of  the  old  judge.  "  His  eldest 
son,  Sir  Alexander  Boswell,"  wrote  Sir  Walter  Scott,  "was  a 
proud  man,  and  like  his  grandfather,  thought  that  his  father 
lowered  himself  by  his  deferential  suit  and  service  to  Johnson.  I 
have  observed  he  disliked  any  allusion  to  the  book  or  to  Johnson 
himself,  and  I  have  heard  that  Johnson's  fine  picture  by  Sir  Joshua 
was  sent  upstairs  out  of  the  sitting  apartments."  l  He  was  not  too 
proud  a  man  to  write  a  poem  on  the  anniversary  of  the  Accession 
of  George  IV.,  and  what  is  George  IV.  now  ?  It  was  not  from 
any  dulness  of  mind  that  he  did  not  value  his  father's  book.  "  He 
had,"  says  Lockhart,  "all  Bozzys  cleverness,  good-humour,  and 
joviality,  without  one  touch  of  his  meaner  qualities,  wrote  some 
popular  songs,  which  he  sang  capitally,  and  was  moreover  a 
thorough  bibliomaniac."'  It  was  due  to  him  and  a  friend,  that  the 
Burns  monument  at  Ayr  was  erected.  They  summoned  a  public 
meeting,  but  no  one  attended  except  themselves.  Little  daunted 
they  appointed  a  chairman,  proposed  resolutions,  carried  them 
unanimously,  passed  a  vote  of  thanks,  and  issued  subscription 
lists.  More  than  ,£2,000  was  subscribed,  and  the  monument  was 
opened  by  Sir  Alexander  shortly  before  his  death.  That  he  was 
not  wanting  in  tenderness  of  heart  is  shown  by  some  of  his  poems. 
How  pretty  is  the  following  verse  in  an  address  by  an  aged  father 
to  his  children  :— 

"The  auld  will  speak,  the  young  maun  hear, 

Be  cantie,  but  be  gude  and  leal ; 
Your  ain  ills  aye  hae  heart  to  bear, 

Anither's  aye  hae  heart  to  feel. 

So,  ere  I  set,  I'll  see  ye  shine ; 

I'll  see  ye  triumph  ere  I  fa' ; 
My  parting  breath  shall  boast  you  mine — 

Good  night,  and  joy  be  wi'  ye  a'."3 

Lockhart  goes,  however,  too  far  when  he  exalts  him  in  comparison 
with  his  father.  Boswell,  I  feel  sure,  would  never  have  been 
guilty  of  the  act  which  involved  his  son  in  the  unhappy  duel  in 
which  he  lost  his  life.  In  two  scurrilous  newspapers  he  had 

1  Croker's  Correspondence,  ii.  32.  3  C.  Rogers 's  Modern  Scottish  Minstrel,  1870, 

*  Lockhart's  Life  of  Scott,  v.  336.  p.  158. 


284  SIR    JAMES    liOSWEI.I.. 

secretly  defamed  his  kinsman,  Mr.  James  Stuart,  of  Dunearn, 
"with  whom  he  had  long  been  on  good  terms."  Though  the 
articles  were  written  in  a  disguised  hand,  the  authorship  was 
detected.  He  received  a  challenge  from  the  injured  man,  and  at 
the  first  shot  fell  mortally  wounded.  He  dined  with  Scott  a  day 
or  two  before  the  duel,  and  "  though  Charles  Matthews  (the 
famous  comedian)  was  present,  poor  Sir  Alexander  Boswell's 
songs,  jokes,  and  anecdotes  exhibited  no  symptom  of  eclipse." 1 

His  only  son,  Sir  James  Boswell,  the  last  male  descendant  of 
the  author  of  the  immortal  Life,  shared  his  father's  illiberal  feelings 
about  Johnson.  Miss  Macleod  of  Macleod  told  me  that  when 
she  was  on  a  visit  at  Auchinleck,  he  said  to  her  one  day  that  he 
did  not  know  how  he  should  name  one  of  his  race-horses.  She 
suggested  Boswell's  Johnsoniana,  which  made  him  very  angry. 
He  was,  I  learnt,  a  man  of  great  natural  ability,  who,  had  he 
chosen,  might  have  become  distinguished.  His  feeling  of  soreness 
against  his  grandfather  was  partly  due  to  another  cause  than  dis- 
like of  hero-worship.  Boswell,  in  an  access  of  that  particular  kind 
of  folly  which  he  called  "  feudal  enthusiasm,"  had  entailed  his 
estates  on  the  heirs  male  of  his  father  to  the  exclusion  of  his  own 
nearer  female  descendants.  Sir  James,  who  had  no  sons,  saw  that 
Auchinleck  on  his  death  would  pass  away  from  his  daughters  to  his 
cousin,  Thomas  Alexander  Boswell,  Lord  Auchinleck's  grandson 
by  his  second  son  David.  He  managed  to  get  the  settlement 
upset  on  the  plea  that  in  the  deed  the  first  five  letters  of  the  word 
irredeemably  were  written  upon  an  erasure.2  It  is  not  impossible 
that  the  lawyer  who  drew  it  up,  not  liking  the  provision,  inten- 
tionally contrived  this  loop-hole. 

Among  Boswell's  male  descendants,  his  second  son  James  was, 
so  far  as  I  know,  the  only  one  who  was  not  ashamed  of  the  Life  of 
JoJinson.  He  supplied  notes  to  the  later  editions.  His  father, 
writing  of  him  when  he  was  eleven  years  old,  says  :  "  My  second 
son  is  an  extraordinary  boy  ;  he  is  much  of  his  father  (vanity  of 
vanities)."  Croker  describes  him  as  "very  convivial,  and  in 
other  respects  like  his  father — though  altogether  on  a  smaller 
scale." 4  According  to  Lockhart,  he  was  "  a  man  of  considerable 
learning  and  admirable  social  qualities.  To  him  Sir  Walter  Scott 

1  Lord  Cockburn's  Memorials,  pp.  380,  392,  and  Lockhart's  Scott,  vii.  33. 

2  Rogers's  Bt'swelliana,  p.  195,  and  Notes  ami  Queries,  3rd  Series,  vii.  197. 

3  Letters  of  Boswell  to  Temple,  p.  315.  4  Croker's  Boswell,  p.  620. 


KOSVVELL'S    DKSCENDANTS.  2H5 

was  warmly  attached.       He  died  suddenly    in   the   prime   of  life, 
about  a  fortnight  before  his  brother."  ' 

When  Boswell,  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven,  published  his 
Account  of  Corsica,  he  boasted  in  his  preface  that  "he  cherished 
the  hope  of  being  remembered  after  death,  which  has  been  a  great 
object  to  the  noblest  minds  in  all  ages."  When  he  saw  his  Life 
of  Johnson  reach  its  second  edition,  he  said  with  a  frankness  which 
is  almost  touching,  "  I  confess  that  I  am  so  formed  by  nature  and 
by  habit,  that  to  restrain  the  effusion  of  delight  on  having  obtained 
such  fame,  to  me  would  be  truly  painful.  Why  then  should  I 
suppress  it?  Why  'out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart'  should  I 
not  speak?"  He  goes  on  to  mention  the  spontaneous  praise 
which  he  has  received  from  eminent  persons,  "  much  of  which,"  he 
adds,  "  I  have  under  their  hands  to  be  reposited  in  my  archives  at 
Auchinleck."  How  little  did  he  foresee  that  his  executors,  with  a 
brutish  ignorance  worthy  of  perpetual  execration,  would  destroy 
his  manuscripts  !  If  Oliver  Goldsmith  had  had  children  and  grand- 
children, they  too,  when  they  read  of  his  envy  and  his  vanity, 
when  they  were  told  that  "  in  conversation  he  was  an  empty,  noisy, 
blundering  rattle,"2  might  have  blushed  to  own  that  they  were 
sprung  from  the  author  of  The  Deserted  Village  and  The  Vicar  of 
Wakefield. 

It  is  a  melancholy  thing  that  Boswell's  descendants  should  have 
seen  their  famous  ancestor's  faults  so  clearly  as  to  have  been 
unable  to  enjoy  that  pride  which  was  so  justly  their  due,  in  being 
sprung  from  a  man  of  such  real,  if  curious  genius.  Was  it  nothing 
to  have  written  the  best  biography  which  the  world  has  ever  seen  ? 
Nothing  to  have  increased  more  than  any  writer  of  his  generation 
"the  public  stock  of  harmless  pleasure  ?"  Nothing  to  have  "ex- 
hibited "  with  the  greatest  skill  "  a  view  of  literature  and  literary 
men  in  Great  Britain  for  near  half  a  century  ?  "  Nothing  to  have 
been  the  delight  of  men  of  the  greatest  and  most  varied  genius  ? 
Nothing  to  be  read  wherever  the  English  tongue  is  spoken,  and, 
as  seems  likely,  as  long  as  the  English  tongue  shall  last  ?  Sume 
superbiam  quasitam  meritis,  "  Assume  the  honours  justly  thine," 
we  would  say  to  each  one  of  his  race. 

How  widely  Boswell's  influence  is  felt  is  shown  in  a  story 
which  was  told  me  by  Sir  Charles  Sikes,  the  benevolent  inventor 

1  Lockhart's  Life  of  Scott,  vii.  33. 

2  Macaulay's  Miscellaneous  Writings,  ed.  1871,  p.  369. 


286  BOSWELL'S    FAME. 

of  the  Post  Office  Savings  Banks,  and  no  mean  Johnsonian.  One 
day  he  had  gone  under  an  archway  in  Fleet  Street  to  shun  a 
shower,  as  Burke  might  have  gone.1  Being  "  knowing  and  con- 
versible,"  he  fell  into  talk  with  a  sergeant  of  police  who  was  also 
taking  shelter,  and  whose  tongue  showed  that  he  was  an  Irishman. 
He  came,  he  said,  from  the  west  of  Ireland.  When  he  was  a  boy 
the  parish  priest  had  lent  him  a  copy  of  the  Life  of  Johnson.  He 
had  read  it  again  and  again,  till  at  last  the  wish  grew  so  strong 
upon  him  to  see  with  his  own  eyes  the  scenes  which  in  the  pages 
of  the  book  were  so  familiar  to  him,  that  he  came  to  London,  not 
knowing  what  employment  he  should  find,  but  bent  on  seeing 
Fleet  Street.  What  pilgrimages  have  not  men  made  from  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic  to  the  same  spots !  With  their  Boswell 
in  their  hands  they  have  wandered  by  Charing  Cross,  "with  its 
full  tide  of  human  existence  ;  "  up  the  Strand,  "  through  the  greatest 
series  of  shops  in  the  world  ;"  under  Temple  Bar,  where  Johnson's 
and  Goldsmith's  names  did  not  mingle  with  those  of  the  Scotch 
rebels " ;  along  Fleet  Street,  with  "  its  very  animated  appearance," 
to  the  courts  and  lanes  and  taverns  where  the  spirits  of  the  men 
who  gathered  round  the  great  Lexicographer  seem  still  to  linger. 
The  Boswells  are  proud  of  their  descent  from  a  man  who  fell  at 
Flodden  Field.  There  are  thousands  and  ten  thousands  of  Scotch- 
men who  got  knocked  on  their  heads  in  border  forays,  but  only  one 
who  wrote  the  Life  of  Johnson.  "  The  chief  glory  of  every  people 
arises  from  its  authors,"  and  among  Scotch  authors  Sir  Walter 
Scott  alone  equals  Boswell  in  the  extent  of  his  popularity.  The 
genius  of  Burns  lies  hidden  from  most  Englishmen  in  the  dialect 
in  which  his  finest  poetry  is  written.  Never  did  one  man  of  letters 
do  another  a  more  shameful  wrong  than  when  Macaulay  laboured 
at  the  ridiculous  paradox  that  the  first  of  biographers  was  "  a  man 
of  the  meanest  and  feeblest  intellect."  He  was  thirty  years  old 
when  he  wrote  this.  Yet,  to  borrow  Johnson's  words,  it  was  such 
stuff  as  a  young  man  talks  when  he  first  begins  to  think  himself  a 
clever  fellow,  and  he  ought  to  have  been  whipped  for  it.  The 

'  Johnson  imagines  Burke  falling  into  chance          '  Forsitan  et  nostrum  nomen  miscebitur  istis. ' 
conversations  on  two  occasions  ;  once  on  slum-       when  we  go,   ,o  Temple  Bar  he  stopped  me, 
ning  a  shower  under  a  shed,  and  another  time  on       pOjn,e,i  to  ti,e  heads  upon  it,  and  slily  whispered 
stepping  aside  to  take  shelter  from  a  drove  of       me 
oxen. — Life  of  fohnson,  iv.  275  ;  v.  34. 

•  "JOHNSON.     I  remember  once  being  with         '  Fursilan  et  nostltlm  nomen  mlscebllur  ""'• 
Goldsmith  in  Westminster  Abbey.     While  we  Jl>.  ii.  238. 

surveyed  the  Poets'  Corner  I  said  to  him, 


BOSWF.LL'S    FAME.  287 

worst  of  it  is  that  Macaulay,  like  Rousseau,  talked  his  nonsense 
so  well  that  it  still  passes  for  gospel  with  all  those  who  have 
advanced  as  far  as  reading,  but  have  not  as  yet  attained  to  thinking. 
We  may  feel  thankful  that  he  did  not  with  his  overpowering  com- 
mon sense  go  on  to  overwhelm  the  memory  of  Goldsmith. 

In  the  price  set  on  autographs  we  have  a  means  of  measuring 
in  some  fashion  the  estimation  in  which  men  are  held  by  posterity. 
The  standard  is  but  a  rough  one,  however,  for  it  is  affected  by  the 
number  of  their  writings  which  chance  to  have  been  preserved  : 
judging  by  it,  Boswell's  rank  is  very  high.  There  were,  probably, 
few  men  whose  career  he  more  envied  than  that  of  Lord  Bute's 
"errand-goer,"  Alexander  Wedderburne,  who  rose  to  be  Lord 
Loughborough,  Earl  of  Rosslyn  and  Lord  High  Chancellor  of 
England.  Yet  a  letter  of  his  I  have  recently  seen  offered  for  sale 
at  ten  shillings  and  sixpence,  while  Boswell's  was  marked  nine 
guineas.  While  I  exult  at  seeing  that  one  author  equals  eighteen 
Lord  Chancellors,  I  sometimes  sigh  over  the  high  prices  which 
have  hitherto  kept  me  from  obtaining  a  specimen  of  the  hand- 
writing of  a  man  at  whose  works  I  have  so  long  laboured. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  day  will  at  length  come  when  those 
in  whose  veins  Boswell's  blood  still  flows  will  take  that  just  and 
reasonable  view  of  their  famous  forefather  which  will  lead  them, 
from  time  to  time,  to  throw  open  "  the  rocks  and  woods,"  and  even 
"  the  stately  house  "  of  Auchinleck  to  strangers  from  afar.  It  was 
he  who  "Johnsonised  the  land,"  and  they  therefore  should  have 
some  indulgence  for  the  enthusiasm  which  he  created.  "The 
sullen  dignity  of  the  castle  with  which  Johnson  was  delighted" 
they  should  not  keep  altogether  to  themselves.  Another  famous 
man  had  beheld  those  ruins  also.  "  Since  Paoli  stood  upon  our 
old  castle,"  wrote  Boswell  to  a  friend,  "  it  has  an  additional  dignity." 
Who  would  not  like  to  stand  upon  it  also,  and  to  see  the  Lugar 
running  beneath,  "  bordered  by  high  rocks  shaded  with  wood  ? " 
Into  this  beautiful  stream  falls  "  a  pleasing  brook,"  to  use  Johnson's 
odd  description  of  a  rivulet  which  has  cut  a  deep  passage  through 
the  sandstone.  "  It  runs,"  he  adds,  "by  a  red  rock,  out  of  which 
has  been  hewn  a  very  agreeable  and  commodious  summer-house." 
I  have  been  told  that  the  meeting  of  the  waters  is  a  scene  of 
striking  beauty.  Then  there  are  "the  venerable  old  trees  under 
the  shade  of  which,"  writes  Boswell,  "  my  ancestors  had  walked," 
and  the  groves  where,  as  he  told  Johnson,  it  was  his  intention  to 


288  AUCHINLECK    MANSE. 

erect  a  monument  to  his  "  reverend  friend."  "  Sir,"  he  answered, 
little  flattered  by  the  prospect  of  "  a  lapidary  inscription,"  "  I  hope 
lo  see  your  grand-children."  Who  would  not  gladly  stroll  along 
Lord  Auchinleck's  via  sacra,  "  that  road  which  he  made  to  the 
church,  for  above  three  miles,  on  his  own  estate,  through  a  range 
of  well-inclosed  farms,  with  a  row  of  trees  on  each  side  of  it  ?  " 
The  avenue  is  composed  mainly  of  oaks  and  beeches,  planted 
alternately  ;  but  the  finest  of  the  trees  were  brought  down  a  few 
years  ago  in  a  great  storm  which  swept  over  the  country.  Only 
one  or  two  small  farms  remain,  but  there  are  the  ruins  of  another. 
From  the  road  a  most  pleasant  view  is  seen,  grassy  slopes  running 
down  to  the  Lugar,  with  hedge-rows  and  trees  growing  in  them 
after  the  English  fashion.  Across  the  river  the  ground  rises  rapidly 
in  tilled  fields  and  meadows  and  groves  to  a  high  range  of  hills. 
To  the  south-west  lies  the  village  of  Ochiltree,  whence  Scott 
perhaps  derived  old  Edie's  name  in  the  Antiquary. 

The  manse  still  stands  where  Johnson  dined  with  the  Rev. 
John  Dun,  who  had  been  Boswell's  dominie,  and  had  been  re- 
warded for  his  services  by  the  presentation  to  the  living  of 
Auchinleck.  He  rashly  attacked  before  his  guest  the  Church  of 
England,  and  "  talked  of  fat  bishops  and  drowsy  deans.  Dr. 
Johnson  was  so  highly  offended,  that  he  said  to  him,  'Sir,  you 
know  no  more  of  our  church  than  a  Hottentot.' '  Dun  must  have 
complained  to  Boswell  of  being  thus  publicly  likened  to  the  pro- 
verbial Hottentot,  for  in  the  second  edition  of  the  Tour  to  the 
Hebrides  his  name  is  suppressed.  The  manse  has  been  enlarged 
since  those  days,  and  surrounded  with  a  delightful  garden  which 
might  excite  the  envy,  if  not  of  a  drowsy  dean,  at  all  events  of 
a  south  country  vicar.  In  the  venerable  minister,  Dr.  James 
Chrystal,  who  has  lived  there  for  more  than  fifty  years,  Johnson 
would  have  found  a  man  "  whom,  if  he  should  have  quarrelled  with 
him,  he  would  have  found  the  most  difficulty  how  to  abuse." 

The  parish  church  where  Johnson  refused  to  attend  Boswell 
and  his  father  at  public  worship  has  been  rebuilt.  In  the  church- 
yard stands  a  fine  old  beech  which  might  have  been  called  venerable 
even  a  hundred  years  ago.  There,  too,  is  the  vault  of  the  Boswells 
with  their  coat-of-arms  engraved  on  it,  and  their  motto,  Vraye  Foy. 
In  a  niche  cut  in  the  solid  rock  lies  Boswell's  body.  He  died  in 
London,  at  his  house  in  Great  Portland  Street,  but  in  accordance 
with  the  direction  in  his  will  he  was  buried  "  in  the  family  burial- 


AUCHINLECK    CHURCHYARD.  289 

place  in  the  church  of  Auchinleck."  Though  the  vault  is  now  at  a 
little  distance  from  the  church,  yet  in  the  old  building,  which  did 
not  occupy  precisely  the  same  site,  it  was  under  a  room  at  the  back 
of  the  Boswells'  pew.  On  a  wall  in  the  churchyard  I  noticed  a 
curiously-carved  stone  with  the  following  inscription  : 

M 

G.  W. 

1621 

M.  G. 

HUNC   TUMULUM    CONJUNX 

POSU1T   DILECTA    MARITO. 
QUEMQUE  VIRO    POSU1T 

DESTINAT    HORA    SII1I. 


THIS    STONE    WAS    KRECTED 

l62I 
IN    MEMORY    OF    THE 

REVD.    GEORGE    WALKER 

WHO    WAS    PASTOR    OF    THIS    PARISH. 
REPAIRED    BY    OLD    MORTALITY 

IN    HIS    DAY 

AND    RENEWED    AND    PLACED    HERE    IN 
I855- 

"  Auchinleck,"  said  the  landlady  of  my  inn,  "  is  the  very  heart 
of  the  Covenanters'  district."  Hard  by,  at  Airdsmoss,  the  founder 
of  the  Cameronians,  with  seven  or  eight  of  his  followers,  was  slain  in 
July,  1 68 1.  In  the  churchyard  lies  buried  a  man  of  a  very  different 
type  of  character — William  Murdoch,  the  inventor  of  gas.  Two  of 
Boswell's  tenants  were  James  and  William  Murdoch.  They  and 
their  forefathers  had  possessed  their  farms  for  many  generations.1 
Perhaps  not  only  the  Life  of  Boswell,  but  illumination  by  gas  takes 
its  rise  from  Auchinleck. 

The  village  consists  mainly  of  one  long  street  of  solidly-built 
stone  houses  ;  the  older  ones  thatched  and  often  white-washed,  the 
modern  ones  slated.  At  the  back  are  good  gardens  well  stocked 
with  fruit  trees.  Bare  feet  are  far  more  common  here  than  in  the 
Highlands  or  Hebrides.  All  the  children,  with  scarcely  an  excep- 
tion, and  many  of  the  women,  go  bare-footed.  As  I  passed  down 
the  street  a  "  roup,"  or  sale  by  auction,  was  going  on  before 
the  house  of  a  deceased  "  baker,  violin-maker,  clock-mender,  blood- 
letter,  dentist,  geologist,  and  collector  of  coins."  The  auctioneer, 
standing  on  the  doorstep  of  this  departed  worthy,  who  at  one  and 

1   See  Boswell's  will  in  Rogers's  fioswelliana,  p.  185. 

p  r 


29o  BOSWELL    AS    A    LANDLORD. 

the:  same  time  had  played  many  parts,  dispersed  his  motley  goods 
to  the  four  quarters  of  heaven.  The  best  of  his  violins,  for  he  had 
had  some  of  considerable  value,  had  been  sent  for  sale  to  Glasgow. 
1  stayed  in  the  Railway  Hotel,  a  curious  old  house,  which 
boasted  of  two  sitting-rooms  and  one  bed-room.  It  was  clean  and 
comfortable,  and  in  my  courteous  landlady  I  found  a  woman  of 
sense  and  education.  She  quoted  Sartor  ficsar/us,a.nd  spoke  with 
anger  of  Mr.  Fronde's  Life  of  Carlyle.  In  Scotland  the  traveller 
finds  book-learning  far  more  generally  diffused  than  in  England. 

In  Hoswell's  time  Auchinleck,  he  tells  us,  was  pronounced 
Affleck.  His  grand-daughter,  who  died  in  1836,  informed  Mr. 
Croker  that  in  her  time  it  had  come  to  be  pronounced  as  it  is 
written.  I  learnt  however  from  Dr.  Chrystal  that  "  the  name 
Affleck  is  still  quite  common  as  applied  to  the  parish,  and  even 
Auchinleck  House  is  as  often  called  Place  Affleck  as  otherwise." 
A  lad  whom  I  questioned  on  the  subject  told  me  that  the  old  people 
call  it  Affleck  but  the  young  Auchinleck.  The  old  pronunciation 
will  no  doubt  soon  disappear. 

Boswell  had  been  a  kind  landlord.  Johnson,  in  the  early  days 
of  their  acquaintance,  "  had  recommended  to  him  a  liberal  kindness 
to  his  tenantry,  as  people  over  whom  the  proprietor  was  placed  by 
Providence."  The  advice  was  congenial  to  his  natural  disposition. 
In  his  will,  which  he  made  ten  years  before  his  death,  he  says  :  "  As 
there  are  upon  the  estate  of  Auchinleck  several  tenants  whose 
families  have  possessed  their  farms  for  many  generations,  I  do  by 
these  presents  grant  leases  for  nineteen  years  and  their  respective 
lives  to  "  —here  follow  the  names  of  eight  tenants.  He  continues  :— 
"  And  I  do  beseech  all  the  succeeding  heirs  of  entail  to  be  kind  to 
the  tenants,  and  not  to  turn  out  old  possessors  to  get  a  little  more 
rent."  We  may  venture  to  express  a  hope  that  his  descendants,  if 
they  have  slighted  him  as  an  author,  have  always  honoured  and  fol- 
lowed him  as  a  landlord. 


HAMILTON,  EDINBURGH,   NEW  HAILES,   BALLENCRIEFF,  AND 
CRANSTON,  NOVEMBER  8 — 22. 

Leaving  Auchinleck  on  the  morning  of  November  8,  our 
travellers  arrived  that  night  at  Hamilton  on  the  road  to  Edinburgh. 
They  had  crossed  Drumclog  Moor,  the  scene  of  the  skirmish  nearly 


FROM    AUCH1NLECK   TO   EDINBURGH. 


291 


one  hundred  years  earlier  where  Claverhouse  was  beaten  by  the 
Covenanters.  Scott  in  Old  Mortality  has  told  how  in  the  fight 
John  Balfour  of  Burley  struck  down  Sergeant  Bothwell.  Fifty 
years  or  so  after  our  travellers  crossed  the  Moor,  Thomas  Carlyle 
and  Edward  Irving  passed  over  it  on  foot.  "  It  was  here,"  says 
Carlyle,  "as  the  sun  was  sinking,  Irving  drew  from  me  by  degrees, 
in  the  softest  manner,  the  confession  that  I  did  not  think  as  he  of 


the  Christian  religion,  and  that  it 
was  vain  for  me  to  expect  I  ever 
could  or  should."  '  Boswell's  record 
of  this  day's  journey  is  of  the  briefest. 
"  We  came  at  night  to  a  good  inn 
at  Hamilton.  I  recollect  no  more." 
A  writer  in  the  Gentleman ' s  Magazine 
gives  us  a  humorous  description  of 
the  innkeeper.  "  Hamilton  Arms, 
kept  by  Burns,  tolerable.  The  land- 
lord from  pure  insipidity  will  laugh  at 
you  if  you  come  in  wet  through ;  yet  he 

can  tell  a  good  deal  about  the  Duke's  family."  :  Smollett  gives  the 
little  town  the  highest  praise  in  his  vocabulary,  by  calling  it  "one  of 
the  neatest  he  had  seen  in  any  country. " :|  Whatever  nature  could  do, 
the  force  of  art  could  no  farther  go  last  century  than  make  a  place 
neat.  Boswell,  before  they  left  next  morning,  in  vain  tried  to  move 

1  Carlyle's  Kenriniscences,  eel.  1881,  i.  178.  "  Gentleman's  Magasine,  1771,  \>,  545. 

J  Humphry  Clinker,  iii.  85. 


NEW  IIAILKS. 


292  RETURN   TO    EDINBURGH. 

Johnson  to  visit  the  Palace  of  Hamilton,  as  the  Duke's  castle  is  called. 
"  He  had  not  come  to  Scotland  to  see  fine  places  of  which  there  were 
enough  in  England."  lie  would  do  nothing  more  than  view  the 
outside.  That  same  night  "  they  arrived  at  Edinburgh  after  an 
absence  of  eighty-three  days.  For  five  weeks  together  of  the  tem- 
pestuous season,"  adds  Boswell,  "  there  had  been  no  account 
received  of  us."  Yet,  as  the  crow  flies,  they  had  never  at  their 
farthest  been  two  hundred  miles  away.  How  vast  is  the 
change  since  those  clays  !  I  received  the  other  day  at  my 
house  in  Oxford,  a  letter  which  had  been  posted  in  Bombay  just 
fifteen  days  before.  Johnson  would  have  hurried  on  to  London 
had  he  followed  his  own  wishes.  "  I  long  to  come  under  your 
care,"  he  wrote  to  Mrs.  Thrale  a  day  or  two  after  his  arrival 
in  Edinburgh,  "  but  for  some  days  cannot  decently  get  away."  He 
had  his  morning  levees  to  hold,  and  his  dinner  and  supper  parties 
to  attend.  "  '  Sir,'  he  said  one  evening,  '  we  have  been  harassed  by 
invitations.'  I  acquiesced.  '  Ay,  sir,'  he  replied,  '  but  how  much 
worse  would  it  have  been  if  we  had  been  neglected  ! ' '  There  was 
one  man  who  did  not  harass  him.  Boswell  nowhere  mentions 
that  he  visited  Lord  Auchinleck  at  his  house  in  Parliament 
Close. 

He  paid  a  visit  to  New  Hailes,  four  miles  east  of  Edinburgh, 
the  seat  of  Sir  David  Dalrymple,  better  known  by  the  title  of  Lord 
Hailes,  which  he  bore  as  one  of  the  judges  of  Scotland.  "  Here," 
says  Boswell,  "  we  passed  a  most  agreeable  day,  but,"  he  adds, 
"  again  I  must  lament  that  I  was  so  indolent  as  to  let  almost  all  that 

o 

passed  evaporate  into  oblivion."  Johnson  had  first  heard  of  his 
host  ten  years  earlier.  One  evening,  when  he  and  Boswell  were 
supping  in  a  private  room  at  the  Turk's  Head  Coffee-house  in  the 
Strand,  "  he  drank  a  bumper  to  Sir  David  Dalrymple  as  '  a  man  of 
worth,  a  scholar,  and  a  wit.  I  have,'  said  he,  '  never  heard  of  him, 
except  from  you  ;  but  let  him  know  my  opinion  of  him ;  for,  as 
he  does  not  show  himself  much  in  the  world,  he  should  have  the 
praise  of  the  few  who  hear  of  him.'  '  They  did  not  meet  till 
Johnson  came  to  Edinburgh,  but  then  they  at  once  took  to  each 
other.  "  I  love  him  better  than  any  man  whom  I  know  so  little," 
wrote  Johnson  eighteen  months  later.  His  love  was  no  doubt  in- 
creased by  the  decision  which  his  friend  gave  a  few  years  later  in 
that  famous  case  in  which  it  was  decided,  by  a  majority  of  the 
judges,  that  a  slave  who  had  been  brought  from  Jamaica  to 


LORD    HAILES.  293 

Scotland  became  thereby  free.  "  Dear  Lord  Hailes  was  on  the 
side  of  liberty,"  Johnson  wrote  to  Boswell.1  He  would  have  loved 
him  still  more  for  the  tenderness  of  heart  which,  unlike  so  many  of 
his  brethren,  he  showed  on  the  Bench.  "  When  called  to  pass 
sentence  of  death  he  addressed  the  unfortunate  convicts  in  a 
pathetic,  dignified  strain  of  piety  and  commiseration  that  made 
a  deep  impression  on  the  audience."  :  Many  of  the  old  judges,  as  is 
shown  by  the  stories  recorded  of  them,  were  in  criminal  trials  little 
better  than  ruffians  in  ermine.  If  "  robes  and  furred  gowns  hide 
all,"  in  many  a  case  they  had  far  more  cruelty  to  cover  than  the  un- 
fortunate prisoner  had  been  guilty  of  who  was  sent  to  the  gallows. 
Lord  Hailes,  with  all  his  kindness,  was  by  no  means  faultless  as  a 
judge.  He  too  often  allowed  his  pedantry  to  override  his  good 
sense.  This  failing  in  his  friend,  Boswell  took  off  in  his  comic  poem 
The  Court  of  Session  Garland  : 

"  '  This  cause,'  cries  Hailes,  '  to  judge  I  can't  pretend, 
for  justice,  I  perceive,  wants  an  e  at  the  end.'  " 

According  to  Dr.  Robert  Chambers  "  a  story  was  told  of  his  once 
making  a  serious  objection  to  a  law-paper,  and  in  consequence 
to  the  whole  suit,  on  account  of  the  word  justice  being  thus  spelt."  3 
Lord  Braxfield,  one  of  the  ruffian  judges,  but  a  man  of  strong  mind, 
"hearing  him  praised  as  a  good  judge,  said,  in  his  vulgar  way, 
'  Him  !  he  knows  nothing  but  the  nooks  of  a  cause.'  He  was  not 
without  his  crotchets.  One  day  when  he  sat  as  President,  he 
reprimanded  a  lawyer  very  sharply  for  making  a  ludicrous  applica- 
tion of  some  text  in  the  Gospels  or  Epistles.  '  Sir,'  said  he,  '  you 
may  take  liberties  with  the  Old  Testament,  but  I  will  not  suffer  you 
to  meddle  with  the  New.'  "  4 

As  an  historian  he  had  considerable  merits.  Johnson  revised 
the  proof-sheets  of  his  Annals  of  Scotland,  and  found  them  "a  new 
mode  of  history  in  our  language."  "They  are  very  exact,"  he 
added,  "  but  they  contain  mere  dry  particulars.  They  are  to  be 
considered  as  a  Dictionary.  You  know  such  things  are  there,  and 
may  be  looked  at  when  you  please."5  Gibbon  praised  him  as  "a 
diligent  collector,  and  an  accurate  critic  ;  "  but  he  complained  that 
when  he  came  to  criticise  "the  two  invidious  chapters"  in  the 
Decline  and  Pall,  "  he  scrutinized  each  separate  passage  with  the 


,  iii.  212,  216.  4  Scotland  and  Scotsmen,  &c.,  i.  397,  407. 

'*  Scotland  and  Scotsmen,  &c.  ,  i.  398.  5  BoswelVsfofinson,  ii.  383,  iii.  404. 

3  Traditions  of  Edinburgh,  ed.  1825,  ii.  161. 


294  LORI)    1IAILES   AND    DR.    HALLAM. 

dry  minuteness  of  a  special  pleader  ;  and  as  he  was  always  solicitous 
to  make,  he  may  have  succeeded  sometimes  in  finding  a  flaw."  ' 
Hume  spoke  of  him  with  contempt.  "  He  is  a  godly  man  ;  feareth 
the  Lord  and  escheweth  evil,  and  works  out  his  salvation  with  fear 
and  trembling.  None  of  the  books  he  publishes  are  of  his  writing ; 
they  are  all  historical  manuscripts,  of  little  or  no  consequence."  : 
"  Nothing  delighted  him  more,"  writes  Ramsay  of  Ochtertyre, 
"  than  to  demolish  some  historical  fabric  which  length  of  time  had 
rendered  venerable.  I  lent  an  old  lady  the  first  volume  of  his 
Annals.  She  was  so  ill -pleased  with  the  rejection  of  some  popular 
stories  of  Wallace,  that  she  said  she  would  drive  the  powder  out  of 
his  lordship's  wig  if  she  were  by  him."3  With  all  his  critical  power 
he  was  a  believer  in  Ossian.  Burke,  who  once  met  him  at  dinner, 
"  found  him  a  clever  man,  and  generally  knowing."  ' 

He  had  been  educated  at  Eton,  and  there  one  day  had  noticed  a 
little  black-looking  boy,  who  had  come  up  "  to  show  for  college,  i.e., 
to  stand  for  a  scholarship  on  the  foundation." 

"  After  being  examined  lie  was  found  entitled  to  be  placed  high  in  the  fourth 
form,  if  he  could  make  a  copy  of  Latin  verses  in  a  given  time.  As  he  knew  nothing 
of  the  matter,  his  friend  bade  him  throw  the  theme  assigned  him  over  the  window  5 
in  a  quill,  and  he  would  convey  him  the  verses  ere  they  were  wanted.  He  told  the 
door-keeper  to  carry  a  pen-case  to  the  lad  under  examination,  who  exhibited  the 
theme,  and  was  elected.  For  some  months  Dalrymple  lent  him  his  aid  in  versifying. 
Dr.  Hallam,  now  Dean  of  Bristol  and  Canon  of  Westminster,  confessed  many  years 
after,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  that  next  to  the  providence  of  God  he  owed  all  that  he 
had  to  the  philanthropy  of  Sir  David  Dalrymple."" 

If,  as  seems  likely,  the  examination  was  competitive,  the  boy 
who  did  not  get  the  scholarship  might  not  have  taken  altogether 
the  same  view  of  the  matter  as  the  pious  and  tearful  dean.  Dr. 
Hallam  was  the  father  of  the  historian,  and  the  grandfather  of 
Arthur  Hallam.  Had  it  not  been  for  Lord  Hailes's  good-natured 
roguery  the  In  Memoriam  might  never  have  been  written. 

New  Hailes,  as  Johnson's  host  told  Ramsay  of  Ochtertyre, 
"  had  been  first  made  by  Mr.  Smith,  a  Popish  architect  employed 
in  fitting  up  King  James's  chapel  at  the  Abbey.  He  planted  the 
oldest  trees.  It  was  acquired  by  Lord  Hailes's  grandfather,  the 
Lord  Advocate,  who  gave  it  its  present  name."7  We  may  wonder 

1  Gibbon's  Miscellaneous  Works,  ed.  1814,  i.  s  A  Scotticism  for  out  of  the  imndma.     See 

232.  ante,  p.  46. 

'  Hume's  Letters  to  Strahan,  p.  74.  u  Scotland  and  Scotsmen,  Sic.,  \.  394. 

3  Scotland  ant!  Scotsmen,  Sic. ,  \.  402.  ~  Scotland  and  Scotsmen,  &c. ,  i.  411. 

*   Burke's  Correspondence,  iii.  301. 


NEW    HAILES. 


295 


where  poor  Mr.  Smith  sought  shelter  that  day  when  the  news 
reached  Edinburgh  that  James  II.  had  fled  from  London.  He  may 
well  have  been  in  danger,  for  ''  the  rabble,"  writes  Hurnet,  "  broke 
into  the  church  of  Holyrood  House,  which  had  been  adorned  at  a 
great  charge  to  be  a  royal  chapel,  defaced  it  quite,  and  seized  on 
some  that  were  thought  great  delinquents."1  When  Lord  Hailes 
came  into  the  property,  "  his  first  care  was  to  fit  up  the  library — a 


L1I1KAKV,    Nl'W    HAII.KS. 


magnificent  room.  The  furnishing  of  it  with  an  ample  store  of 
books  was  the  great  object  of  his  ambition."  :  The  library  is  now 
the  drawing-room — the  most  noble  and  learned  drawing-room 
that  I  have  ever  seen,  for  the  great  and  well-filled  book-shelves 
still  go  round  it  from  the  floor  almost  to  the  lofty  ceiling.  If  it  was 
in  this  room  that  Johnson  was  received,  no  doubt  he  behaved  as  he 
did  that  April  day,  a  year  or  two  later,  when  he  drove  down  to 

1  Burnet's  History  of  his  man  Time,  ed.  1818,  ii.  443.  *  Scotland  and  Scotsmen,  &c. ,  1.409. 


296  NEW    HAILES. 

dine  with  Mr.  Cambridge  at  Twickenham.  "No  sooner,"  says 
Hoswell.  "  had  we  made  our  bow  to  Mr.  Cambridge  in  his  library 
than  [ohnson  ran  eagerly  to  one  side  of  the  room,  intent  on  poring 
over  the  backs  of  the  books."  Perhaps  he  turned  to  Lord  Hailes, 
as  he  turned  to  Dr.  Burney,  on  seeing  his  library,  and  said,  "  You 
are  an  honest  man  to  have  formed  so  great  an  accumulation  of 
knowledge." 

The  house,  like  so  many  in  Scotland,  is  built  more  after  the 
continental  than  the  English  fashion.  In  the  front  is  a  square 
courtyard,  on  a  level  with  which  are  the  offices.  The  hall  is  reached 
by  a  flight  of  stone  steps.  As  I  came  up  to  it  a  peacock  was 
perched  on  the  top.  Above  the  door  is  inscribed  the  motto, 
Laudo  mauentem.  Johnson's  bedroom  was  at  one  end  of  the  house, 
on  the  same  floor  as  the  hall  ;  but  as  the  ground  is  higher  on  this 
side,  it  was  on  a  level  with  the  llower-garden,  which  was  just 
beneath  the  windows.  He  had  also  a  dressing-room,  whence  I 
looked  out  on  pleasant  hayfields,  where  the  haymakers  were  hard 
at  work.  All  about  the  house  are  fine  trees,  many  of  them  planted, 
no  doubt,  by  the  old  Popish  architect ;  while  on  one  side  there  is  a 
lofty  grove  of  beeches  with  a  column  in  the  middle,  inscribed  — 

"  Joanni  Coniiti  de  Stair 

De  I'atria  et  Principe  optima  merito 

Viventi  positum 

MDCCXLVI." 

The  Earl  of  Stair  was  a  Dalrymple.  At  the  Jacobite  rebellion  in 
1745  he  had  been  appointed  Field-Marshal  and  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  Forces  in  South  Britain. a  Horace  Walpole  did  not 
think  highly  of  his  services  at  this  time  for,  after  describing  in  the 
November  of  that  year  how  "  the  Prince  of  Wales,  the  night  of  his 
son's  christening,  had  the  citadel  of  Carlisle  in  sugar  at  supper,  and 
the  company  besieged  it  with  sugar-plums,"  he  continues,  "  One 
thing  was  very  proper;  old  Marshal  Stair  was  there,  who  is  grown 
child  enough  to  be  fit  to  war  only  with  such  artillery."  3  We  can 
picture  to  ourselves  Johnson  walking  up  and  down  under  the  beech 
trees,  reading  the  inscription,  and  telling  how  kindly  he  had  been 
welcomed  a  few  days  earlier  by  the  earl's  sister,  the  Countess 
of  Loudoun,  an  old  lady,  "  who  in  her  ninety-fifth  year  had  all 
her  faculties  entire.  This,"  adds  Boswell,  "  was  a  very  cheering 

1  Boswell's  f ohnson,  ii.  364.  a  Smollett's  History  of  England,  iii.  169. 

3  Walpole's  Letters,  i.  407. 


LORD    HAILES'S    WILL 


297 


sight  to   Dr.  Johnson,  who  had  an  extraordinary  desire  for  long 
life." 

With  such  a  pleasant  spot  as  this  to  live  at,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  Lord  Hailes  for  many  years  would  not  take  a  house  in  Edin- 
burgh, but  resided  constantly  at  New  Hailes  summer  and  winter 
"  driving  in  every  morning  in  session  time  before  breakfast,  and 
returning  before  dinner."  Dr.  Alexander  Carlyle,  who  was  no  bad 
judge  of  conviviality,  said,  "  that  nowhere  did  he  get  more  good 
wine  or  more  good  cracks  than  from  Lord  Ilailes."1  Besides  his 
learning  and  his  hospitality  he  had,  like  so  many  of  Johnson's 
Scotch  friends,  deserved  the  praise  of  being  a  good  landlord.  He 
did  not  raise  his  rents/5  On  his  death  his  will  could  not  be  found. 
He  had  no  sons,  and  the  heir-male  was  about  to  take  possession  of 
his  estates  to  the  exclusion  of  his  daughter,  Miss  Hailes.  She  had 
made  her  preparations  for  leaving  her  old  home,  and  had  sent  some 
of  her  servants  to  lock  up  his  town  house  in  New  Street.  As  one 
of  them  was  closing  the  shutters  of  a  window  the  will  dropped  out 
upon  the  floor  from  behind  a  panel.  It  was  found  to  secure  her  in 
the  possession  of  the  estates.  She  enjoyed  them  for  upwards 
of  forty  years/' 

Johnson  paid  a  visit  also  to  Patrick,  Lord  Elibank,  and  stayed 
two  nights  "  at  his  seat  in  the  country."  I  at  first  thought  that  this 
was  Darnhall,  near  Peebles,  and  accordingly  visited  that  most 
delightful  spot.  But  I  have  little  doubt  that  it  was  at  Ballencrieff, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Hacklington,  where  he  stayed.4  Smollett, 
when  he  takes  Matthew  Bramble  through  this  part  of  the  country, 
makes  him  say  :  "  I  intended  to  pay  my  respects  to  Lord  Elibank, 
whom  I  had  the  honour  to  know  at  London  many  years  ago.  He 
lives  in  this  part  of  Lothian,  but  was  gone  to  the  North  on  a  visit. 
I  have  long  revered  him  for  his  humanity  and  universal  intelligence, 
over  and  above  the  entertainment  arising  from  the  originality  of  his 
character."  6  He  was  a  Jacobite,  and  a  member  of  that  famous 
Cocoa  Tree  Club,  which,  according  to  Boswell,  "  was  sacred  of  old 
to  loyalty."  The  loyalty,  by  the  way,  was  rather  towards  the  third 
James  than  the  second  George.  Horace  Walpole  tells  how,  after 

1  Scotland  and  Scotsmen,  &c.,  i.  407.  227  ;  ii.  557)  it  is  described  as  the  seat  of  the 

'-  fli.t  p.  413.  Hon.  George  Murray,  while  Ballencrieff  is  men- 

3  Chambers's    Trcuiilions  of  Edinburgh,    etl.  tioned  as  Lord  Elibank's.     Murray  is  the  family 

1869.     p.  145.  name  of  the  Elibanks. 

1  Darnhall  is  at  present  Lord  Elibank's  seat ;  *  Humphry  Clinker,  ii.  219. 

but  in  Paterson's  British  Itinerary  (ed.  1800,  i. 

Q  Q 


298  LORD   EUBANK. 

Culloden,  "the  Duke  of  Cumberland  gave  Brigadier  Mordaunt  the 
Pretender's  coach,  on  condition  he  rode  up  to  London  in  it.  '  That 
I  will,  Sir,'  said  he,  '  and  drive  till  it  stops  of  its  own  accord  at  the 
Cocoa  Tree.' "  l  Lord  Elibank  had  been  deeper  in  the  cause  than 
was  known  at  the  time.  According  to  Sir  Walter  Scott,  the 
Stuart  Papers  show  that  "  he  carried  on  a  correspondence  with  the 
Chevalier  after  1745,  which  was  not  suspected  by  his  most  intimate 
friends.""  He  probably  was  made  to  pay  dearly  for  his  attachment 
to  the  exiled  family.  Lord  Cromartie,  one  of  the  rebel  lords, 
"had  been,"  says  Walpole,  "receiver  of  the  rents  of  the  king's 
second  son  in  Scotland,  which  it  was  understood  he  should  not 
account  for,  and  by  that  means  had  six  hundred  pounds  a  year 
from  the  Government.  Lord  Elibank,  a  very  prating,  impertinent 
Jacobite,  was  bound  for  him  in  nine  thousand  pounds,  for  which  the 
duke  is  determined  to  sue  him.";  If  the  money  was  exacted,  the 
loss  must  have  been  severely  felt,  for  Elibank  was  somewhat  parsi- 
monious. "When  he  heard  of  John  Home's  pension,  he  said,  '  It 
is  a  very  laudable  grant,  and  I  rejoice  at  it ;  but  it  is  no  more  in 
the  power  of  the  king  to  make  John  Home  rich  than  to  make  me 
poor.'  "  '  Perhaps  when  he  said  this  he  was  thinking  how  the  king 
had  done  his  best  to  impoverish  him  by  exacting  "  the  penalty  and 
forfeit  of  his  bond,"  and  had  failed. 

One  day  he  and  Dr.  Robertson  called  on  Johnson  at  Boswell's 
house,  and  the  talk  turned  on  the  Rebellion,  Lord  Elibank,  ad- 
dressing the  historian,  said  :  "  Mr.  Robertson,  the  first  thing  that 
gave  me  a  high  opinion  of  you  was  your  saying  in  the  Select 
Society,  while  parties  ran  high,  soon  after  the  year  1745,  that  you 
did  not  think  worse  of  a  man's  moral  character  for  his  having  been 
in  rebellion.  This  was  venturing  to  utter  a  liberal  sentiment,  while 
both  sides  had  a  detestation  of  each  other."  Such  a  sentiment 
must  have  been  particularly  comforting  to  a  man  who  perhaps  was 
still  plotting  treason.  The  Select  Society  had  been  founded  in 
1754  by  Allan  Ramsay  the  painter,  aided  by  Robertson,  Hume, 
and  Adam  Smith.  "  It  rubbed  off  all  corners  by  collision,"  says 
Dr.  Carlyle,  "and  made  the  literati  of  Edinburgh  less  captious  and 
pedantic  than  they  were  elsewhere." '  If  collision  always  rubbed 
off  corners,  there  was  enough  between  Elibank  and  Hume  to  have 

1  Walpole's  Letters,  ii.  32.  '  Home's  Works,  \.  54. 

2  Quarterly  Review,  No.  71,  p.  199.  '  Dr.  A.  Carlylc's  Autobiography,  p.  298,  and 

3  Walpole's  Letters,  ii.  40.  U.Stewart's  Life  of  Robertson,  ed.  1802,  p.  5. 


LORI)    EUBANK..  299 

produced  the  greatest  smoothness  and  even  polish.  The  historian, 
in  the  fifth  volume  of  his  History  of  England,  speaks  of  him  as  "a 
person  that  has  writ  an  Enquiry  historical  and  critical  into  the 
evidence  against  Mary  Queen  of  Scots."  He  goes  on  to  accuse  him 
with  having  "  almost  directly  called  him  a  liar,"  and  charges  him  in 
his  turn  with  being  guilty  of  "  scandalous  artifices."  He  concludes 
with  that  well-known  passage,  in  which  he  maintains  that  "  there 
are  indeed  three  events  in  our  history  which  may  be  regarded  as 
touchstones  of  party-men.  An  English  Whig,  who  asserts  the 
reality  of  the  Popish  Plot,  an  Irish  Catholic,  who  denies  the  mas- 
sacre in  1641,  and  a  Scotch  Jacobite,  who  maintains  the  innocence 
of  Queen  Mary,  must  be  considered  as  men  beyond  the  reach  of 
argument  or  reason,  and  must  be  left  to  their  prejudices."1  In  a 
letter  to  Robertson,  written  some  years  earlier  than  this  note, 
Hume  says  :  "  I  desire  my  compliments  to  Lord  Elibank.  I  hope 
his  lordship  has  forgot  his  vow  of  answering  us,  and  of  washing 
Queen  Mary  white.  I  am  afraid  that  is  impossible;  but  his  lord- 
ship is  very  well  qualified  to  gild  her."'  Hume,  with  all  his  good 
nature,  was  not  a  little  touchy,  and  perhaps  took  offence  where  no 
offence  was  meant.  Lord  Elibank  had  been  "  the  early  patron  of 
Robertson  and  Home,  the  tragick  poet,  who  when  they  were 
ministers  of  country  parishes,  lived  near  his  seat.  He  told  me,"' 
continues  Boswell,  " '  I  saw  these  lads  had  talents,  and  they  were 
much  with  me.'  I  hope  they  will  pay  a  grateful  tribute  to  his 
memory."  According  to  Dr.  Carlyle,  they  found  a  far  better  way 
of  showing  their  gratitude,  for  "  they  cured  him  of  his  contempt  for 
the  Presbyterian  clergy,  made  him  change  or  soften  down  many  of 
his  original  opinions,  and  prepared  him  for  becoming  a  most 
agreeable  member  of  the  Literary  Society  of  Edinburgh,  among 
whom  he  lived  during  the  remainder  of  his  life,  admiring  and 
admired."  3  Besides  his  Enquiry,  he  published  several  other  "  small 
pieces  of  distinguished  merit,"  according  to  Boswell.  National 
Debts  and  the  Currency  were  among  the  subjects  of  which  he 
treated.4  Dr.  Carlyle  describes  him  as  "  rather  a  humourist  than 
a  man  of  humour ;  one  who  defended  paradoxes  and  uncommon 
opinions  with  a  copiousness  and  ingenuity  that  was  surprising." 
This  part  of  his  character  would  have  endeared  him  to  Johnson, 
who  liked  a  tavern  because,  as  he  said,  "  wine  there  prompts  me 

1  History  of  England,  ed.  1773,  v.  504.  3   Dr.  A.  Carlyle's  Autobiography,  p.  267. 

'*  Robertson's  Works,  ed.  1802,.  v.  46.  '  Horace  Walpole's  Letters,  ix.  103. 


:?oo  LORI)    KL1HANK. 

to  free  conversation,  and  an  interchange  of  discourse  with  those 
whom  I  most  love  ;  I  dogmatise  and  am  contradicted,  and  in  this 
conflict  of  opinions  and  sentiments  I  find  delight." '  Though 
Johnson  was  fon'd  of  his  society,  and  once  said  "that  he  was  never 
in  his  company  without  learning  something,"  yet  speaking  of  him 
on  another  occasion  he  said,  "  Sir,  there  is  nothing  conclusive  in 
his  talk."  Lord  Elibank's  admiration  of  Johnson  was  very  high. 
Yet  he  need  not  have  gone  so  far  as  to  flatter  him  at  the  expense  of 
his  own  country.  Having  missed  seeing  him  on  his  first  visit  to 
Edinburgh,  he  wrote  to  Boswell :  "  I  could  not  persuade  myself 
there  was  anything  in  Scotland  worthy  to  have  a  summer  of 
Samuel  Johnson  bestowed  on  it ;  but  since  he  has  done  us  that 
compliment,  for  heaven's  sake  inform  me  of  your  motions.  I  will 
attend  them  most  religiously,  and  though  I  should  regret  to  let 
Mr.  Johnson  go  a  mile  out  of  his  way  on  my  account,  old  as  I  am, 
I  shall  be  glad  to  go  five  hundred  miles  to  enjoy  a  day  of  his  com- 
pany." Johnson,  in  his  plain  truthfulness,  on  the  very  day  on 
which  Lord  Elibank  wrote  this  extravagant  letter,  said  that  "  he 
would  go  two  miles  out  of  his  way  to  see  Lord  Monbodclo."  As 
five  hundred  to  two,  so  perhaps  was  Johnson's  accuracy  of  talk  to 
Lord  Elibank's.  To  the  mean  way  in  which  his  lordship  spoke  of 
Scotland,  as  if  it  were  beneath  the  great  Englishman's  notice,  I 
much  prefer  the  spirit  of  his  countryman,  who,  according  to 
Boswell,  "  would  say  of  Dr.  Johnson,  '  Damned  rascal  !  to  talk  as 
he  does  of  the  Scotch  !"  However,  he  had  none  of  that  small- 
ness  of  mind  common  enough  among  the  high-born,  which  would 
not  let  him  enjoy  Johnson's  strong  talk.  He  was  "one  of  the 
great  who  sought  his  society.  He  well  observed  that  if  a  great 
man  procured  an  interview  with  him,  and  did  not  wish  to  see  him 
more,  it  showed  a  mere  idle  curiosity,  and  a  wretched  want  of 
relish  for  extraordinary  powers  of  mind."  Such  an  idle  curiosity 
and  such  a  wretched  want  of  relish  were  shown  by  George  III. 

The  old  house  at  Ballencrieff,  in  which  Johnson  "passed  two 
nights  and  dined  thrice,"  as  Boswell  accurately  records,  is  now  a 
melancholy  ruin.  It  was  burnt  down  about  twenty  years  ago. 
For  many  years  previously,  deserted  by  its  owners,  it  had  been 
left  in  the  care  of  a  woman  who  lived  in  an  outbuilding,  which  in 
the  old  days  had  formed  the  kitchen.  It  was  here,  I  believe,  that 

1  When   I  had   the  honour  of  meeting  Mr.        he  quoted  this  passage  in  his  strong  deep  voice, 
Gladstone  in  his  visit  to  Oxford  early  this  year,       and  praised  it  highly. 


TREES  A'l  BALLENCRIEFF 

PLANTED  AT  D^  JOHNSON'S  SUGGESTION 


BAT.LENCRIRFF.  301 

were  prepared  those  "  performances  of  a  nobleman's  French  cook 
which  so  much  displeased  Johnson,  that  he  exclaimed  with  ve- 
hemence, '  I'd  throw  such  a  rascal  into  the  river.'  "  l  Though  the 
flames  no  longer  roared  up  the  chimney  as  they  had  done  for  many 
a  long  year,  still  a  fire  was  kept  up  and  soot  accumulated.  One 
day  the  old  woman  tried  to  get  rid  of  it  by  setting  it  alight,  a 
primitive  mode  of  chimney-sweeping  not  uncommon  in  that  part  of 
the  country.  A  spark,  it  is  conjectured,  was  carried  into  the  main 
building  through  a  broken  pane,  and  falling  on  some  straw  brought 
in  by  the  birds  who  nested  there,  set  an  upper  room  on  fire.  The 
summer  had  been  unusually  dry.  The  flames  spread  rapidly  from 
one  end  of  the  house  to  the  other  ;  so  fierce  was  the  blaze  that  a 
large  beech-tree  which  stood  at  some  little  distance  was  burnt  also. 
Part  of  the  house  is  evidently  of  considerable  antiquity,  being  very 
solidly  built,  with  vaulted  chambers  and  walls  many  feet  in  thick- 
ness. In  the  year  1625,  as  I 
judge  from  an  inscription  on 
the  wall,  great  additions  were 
made.  It  is  pleasantly  placed, 
with  meadow-land  on  three 
sides,  and  at  a  little  distance 
from  a  fine  range  of  hills,  which 
boasts  of  a  Roman  camp  and  BALLENCRIEFF. 

of  a  lofty  column  to  one  of 

Wellington's  generals.  So  strangely  do  the  ages  mingle  here. 
From  the  upper  windows  on  a  clear  day  a  delightful  view  must 
have  been  enjoyed  of  the  Forth,  with  the  little  island  of  Inch 
Keith  and  the  hills  of  Fife  beyond.  Near  the  house  there  is  a 
row  of  yew-trees  which  could  not  have  looked  young  in  Johnson's 
time,  and  holly  hedges  leading  up  to  it,  between  which,  perhaps, 
he  walked,  for  they  too  look  old.  The  land  is  in  the  occupation  of 
a  market-gardener,  who  cultivates  it  with  a  success  which  would 
have  won  his  praise,  and  made  him  allow  that  something  beside 
the  sloe  is  brought  to  perfection  in  Scotland.  The  whole  district 
abounds  in  fruitful  gardens  and  orchards,  and  fine  plantations  of 
trees.  As  I  looked  at  the  luxuriance  of  growth,  and  meditated  on 
the  change  that  had  been  wrought  in  a  century  and  a  quarter,  I 
thought  that  to  Johnson,  who  had  shown  the  nakedness  of  the  land, 
a  grateful  and  penitent  people,  who  had  profited  by  his  exhorta- 

1  At  BallencriefF  there  is  no  river,  but  perhaps  Johnson  was  thinking  of  the  Firth  of  Forth. 


302  SIR  JOHN    DALRYMPI.E. 

tions,  should  raise  a  memorial  as  the  god  of  gardens.  According 
to  a  tradition  which  has  come  down  to  our  time,  a  group  of  ash- 
trees  was  planted  by  Lord  Elibank  on  his  suggestion.1  Planting 
had  begun  earlier  than  he  thought.  "  It  may  be  doubted,"  he  said, 
"whether  before  the  Union  any  man  between  Edinburgh  and 
England  had  ever  set  a  tree."  The  market-gardener  told  me  that 
he  hail  counted  one  hundred  and  ninety  rings  on  some  tall  trees 
near  the  house,  which  had  been  cut  down  fourteen  years  before. 
This  would  show  that  they  were  planted  not  only  before  the  Union, 
but  also  before  the  Revolution,  for  though  a  ring  marks  the  growth 
of  a  year,  yet  in  an  old  tree  many  of  the  rings  cannot  be  dis- 
tinguished. 

As  I  wandered  about  the  ruins,  and  listened  to  the  jackdaws 
chattering  overhead  "  with  nothing  conclusive  in  their  talk,"  how 
much  I  regretted  that  Boswell's  indolence  had  kept  him  from 
recording  the  conversation  which  passed  here  in  those  three 
November  days  between  the  old  Jacobite  lord  and  his  famous 
guest. 

Johnson's  tour  was  rapidly  drawing  to  a  close.      Brundusium 

is  at  hand. 

"Brundusium  longre  finis  chartaeque  viaeque." 2 

He  wrote  from  Edinburgh  to  Mrs.  Thrale  on  Thursday,  No- 
vember 1 8  :  "I  long  to  be  at  home,  and  have  taken  a  place  in  the 
coach  for  Monday ;  I  hope,  therefore,  to  be  in  London  on  Friday, 
the  26th,  in  the  evening.  Please  to  let  Mrs.  Williams  know."  On 
Saturday  he  accepted  the  invitation  of  Sir  John  Dalrymple,  a  cousin 
of  Lord  Hailes,  and  author  of  Memoirs  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  to  visit  him  at  his  house  at  Cranston,  twelve  miles  from 
Edinburgh  on  the  middle  road  to  Newcastle.  There  he  was  to  be 
taken  up  by  the  London  coach.  Three  years  earlier  Boswell  had 
described  Dalrymple  as  "a  very  knowing,  lively  companion  ;"3  but 
his  feelings  towards  him  were  changed.  He  had  not  worshipped 
the  image  which  he  had  set  up.  Nevertheless,  "  he  was  am- 
bitious," Boswell  writes,  "of  having  such  a  guest;  but  as  I  was 
well  assured,  that  at  this  very  time  he  had  joined  with  some  of  his 
prejudiced  countrymen  in  railing  at  Dr.  Johnson,  and  had  said,  he 

1  This  interesting  tradition  comes  to  me  from  2  "  From   thence  our  travels  to   Brundusium 

my  friend  General  Cadell,  C.H.,  of  Cocken/.ie  bend, 

House,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  the  accom-  Where  our  long  journey  and  my  paper  end." 

panying  sketch  of  the  trees.  FRANCIS'S  Horace,  i.  Sat.  v.  103. 

•'  Letters  of  Boswell  to  Temple,  p.  168. 


SIR   JOHN    DALRYMPLE.  303 

wondered  how  any  gentleman  of  Scotland  could  keep  company 
with  him,  I  thought  he  did  not  deserve  the  honour  ;  yet,  as  it 
might  be  a  convenience  to  Dr.  Johnson,  I  contrived  that  he 
should  accept  the  invitation,  and  engaged  to  conduct  him."  The 
convenience  consisted  in  the  fact  that,  as  his  house  was  on  the 
London  roacl,  Johnson  would  not  have  to  rise  so  early  by  two 
hours  to  catch  the  coach.  Dalrymple  had  lately  made  a  good  deal 
of  stir  both  in  the  world  of  literature  and  politics  by  the  publication 
of  his  Memoirs.  From  these  it  had  been  learnt  for  the  first  time 
that  Algernon  Sidney  had  been  a  pensioner  of  the  King  of  France. 
Horace  Walpole  had  been  roused  to  anger  by  the  exposure  of  a 
man  whose  memory  he  revered.  "  Need  I  tell  you,"  he  wrote  to 
Mason,  "that  Sir  John  Dalrymple,  the  accuser  of  bribery,  was 
turned  out  of  his  place  of  Solicitor  of  the  Customs  for  taking  bribes 
from  brewers  ?"'  Hume  was  astonished  at  "  the  rage  against  him, 
on  account  of  the  most  commendable  action  in  his  life,"  but  he 
despised  "his  ranting,  bouncing  style."  Johnson  had  an  equal 
contempt  for  it,  calling  it  "  his  foppery."  Boswell  records  in  the 
spring  of  the  year  : 

"  I  mentioned  Sir  John  Dalrymplu's  Memoirs  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and 
his  discoveries  to  the  prejudice  of  Lord  Russell  and  Algernon  Sidney.  JOHNSON. 
'  Why,  Sir,  every  body  who  had  just  notions  of  government  thought  them  rascals 
before.  It  is  well  that  all  mankind  now  see  them  to  be  rascals.  .  .  .  This 
Dalrymple  seems  to  be  an  honest  fellow ;  for  he  tells  equally  what  makes  against 
both  sides.  But  nothing  can  be  poorer  than  his  mode  of  writing,  it  is  the  mere 
bouncing  of  a  schoolboy  :  Great  He  !  but  greater  She  !  and  such  stuff.'  " 

In  describing  the  last  scene  between  Lord  and  Lady  Russell  he 
had  said,  "  they  parted  for  ever — he  great  in  this  last  act  of  his  life, 
but  she  greater."  3 

His  portrait,  which  I  saw  in  the  Loan  Exhibition  of  the  Scottish 
National  Portrait  Gallery,  shows  a  cold  conceited  face.  Dr.  Carlyle 
gives  an  unpleasing  account  of  him.  After  recounting  how  at 
a  dinner  he  had  once  had  "  to  divide  a  haunch  of  venison  among 
fifteen  without  getting  any  portion  of  fat  for  himself,"  he  continues, 
"  But  what  signifies  that,  when  you  have  an  opportunity  of  obliging 
your  friends  ?  as  Sir  J.  Dalrymple  said  to  me  one  day  when  we 
had  a  haunch  at  the  Poker,  flattering  me  for  a  good  piece,  for 
he  was  a  gourmand."  '  How  must  the  indignation  of  this  flattering 

1  Walpole's  Letters,  v.  441.  :!  Boswell's  Johnson,  ii.  210. 

*  Letters  of  Hume  to  Stratum,  pp.  174,  265.  '  Dr.  A.  Carlyle's  Autobiography,  p.  437. 


304  A    RUNAWAY   COUPLE. 

glutton  have  been  excited  at  the  careless  and  even  rude  treatment 
which  he  received  from  our  travellers,  who  had  engaged  to  dine 
with  him  on  the  day  they  left  Edinburgh  !  They  were  very  late  in 
starting,  for  Johnson  in  his  good-nature  had  let  himself  be  detained 
"by  young  Mr.  Tytler  who  came  to  show  some  essays  which 
he  had  written."  They  did  not  leave  till  one  o'clock,  and  then 
Hoswell  insisted  on  their  going  to  see  Rosslyn  Castle  and  the  Chapel. 
They  dined  and  drank  tea  at  the  inn.  As  if  this  were  not  enough, 
and  as  if  no  baronet  were  waiting  dinner,  they  next  went  to  Haw- 
thornden,  and  "had  Rare  Ben  in  mind"  who  one  hundred  and 
forty-three  years  earlier  had  there  visited  the  poet  Drummond.  "  It 
was  very  late,"  writes  Hoswell,  "before  we  reached  the  seat  of  Sir 
John  Dalrymple,  who,  certainly  with  some  reason,  was  not  in  very 
good  humour.  Our  conversation  was  not  brilliant.  We  supped,  and 
went  to  bed  in  ancient  rooms,  which  would  have  better  suited  the 
climate  of  Italy  in  summer,  than  that  of  Scotland  in  the  month  of 
November."  Dalrymple  was  alive  when  this  account  was  published. 
Not  finding  their  quarters  to  their  mind  they  went  on  next  evening 
two  miles  further  to  the  inn  at  Blackshields.  Pennant,  who  had 
passed  a  night  there  in  September  of  the  previous  year, 
describes  "  the  country  as  good,  full  of  corn,  and  decked  with 
numbers  of  small  woods.  The  inn  is  good."'  Just  one  year  and 
two  days  before  our  travellers  arrived  there,  on  November  19,  1772, 
one  Mr.  John  Scott  of  Newcastle  had  married,  in  this  same  village 
and  most  probably  in  the  inn,  pretty  Miss  Elizabeth  Surtees.  She 
had  escaped  by  a  ladder  from  her  father's  house  and  had  run  with 
him  across  the  Border.  He  was  twenty-one  and  she  eighteen. 
"  Jack  Scott,"  said  a  friend  on  hearing  of  it,  "  has  run  off  with  Bessy 
Surtees,  and  the  poor  lad  is  undone."  In  the  end  he  became  Lord 
Chancellor  and  Earl  of  Eldon.  The  certificate  of  marriage  shows 
that  the  ceremony  was  performed  in  the  presence  of  James  and 
Thomas  Fairbairn.  From  a  paper  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  I 
know  that  Fairbairn  was  the  innkeeper's  name. 

On  the  morning  of  Monday,  November  22,  the  coach  took  up 
Johnson  and  off  he  drove  homewards.  On  the  following  Saturday 
he  wrote  to  Boswell  from  London  : — "  I  came  home  last  night, 
without  any  incommodity,  danger,  or  weariness,  and  am  ready 
to  begin  a  new  journey.  I  shall  go  to  Oxford  on  Monday."  There 

1    7'ottr  in  Scotland,  ed.  1776,  ii.  259,  260. 

*  Twiss's  Life  of  Lord  Eldon,  ed.  1846,  i.  57,  and  the  Gentleman's  Magazine,  1771,  p.  543. 


THE    END   OF  THE   TOUR. 


3°5 


he  met  Mr.  John  Scott  and  his  young  bride,  and  perhaps  compared 
notes  about  Blackshields  and  the  Newcastle  road.1  To  his  friend, 
Dr.  Taylor,  he  wrote  that  "  he  had  traversed  the  east  coast  of 
Scotland  from  south  to  north,  from  Edinburgh  to  Inverness,  and 


^ 


HAWTHORNDEN. 


the    west-coast    from    north    to    south,    from    the    Highlands    to 
Glasgow." 

"  The  time   he  spent  in   his  Tour,  was,"  he  often  said,  "  the 

1   Boswcll's  Johnson,  ii.  268. 

*  The  original  letter  of  which  a  facsimile  is  given  is  in  my  possession.     See  Appendix  B. 

R    R 


THE    END  OF  THE    TOUR. 

pleasantest  part  of  his  life."  I  tot)  have  rarely  spent  my  time  more 
pleasantly  than  when  1  was  following  his  traces  both  in  that 
beautiful  country  through  which  he  wandered,  and  in  those  old 
books  in  which  still  live  the  people,  the  manners,  and  the  Scotland 
which  he  saw. 


APPENDIX   A. 

(Pages  1 8  and  117.) 

DR.  JOHNSON'S  BURGESS  TICKET  OF  ABERDEEN. 

IBERDONIvE  vigesimo  tertio  Die  mensis  August!  1773  put 
[in  praesentia]  magistratuum.  Quo  Die  vir  generosus  ac 
Doctrina  Clarus  Samuel  Johnson  LL.D.  receptus  et  admissus 
fuit  in  municipes  et  fratres  GuilcUc  pr.tfati  Burgi  de  Aber- 
deen in  dcditissimi  afiectus  et  amoris  ac  eximiai  observantia; 
tesseram  quibus  dicti  magistratus  ilium  amplectuntur." 


APPENDIX    1! 


APPENDIX    B. 

(I'iijie  305.) 

DR.  JOHNSON'S   LKTTKR  TO  DR.  TAYLOR. 

"DEAR    SIR, 

'HEN  I  was  at  Edinburgh  I  had  a  letter  from  you,  telling  me 
that  in  answer  to  some  enquiry  you  were  informed  that  I  was 
in  the  Sky.  I  was  then  I  suppose  in  the  western  islands  of 
Scotland  ;  I  set  out  on  the  northern  expedition  August  6, 
and  came  back  to  Fleet-street,  November  26.  I  have  seen  a 
new  region. 

"  I  have  been  upon  seven  of  the  islands,  and  probably  should  have  visited 
many  more,  had  we  not  begun  our  journey  so  late  in  the  year,  that  the 
stormy  weather  came  upon  us,  and  the  storms  have  I  believe  for  about  five 
months  hardly  any  intermission. 

"  Your  Letter  told  me  that  you  were  better.  When  you  write  do  not 
forget  to  confirm  that  account.  I  had  very  little  ill  health  while  I  was  on 
the  journey,  and  bore  rain  and  wind  tolerably  well.  I  had  a  cold  and  deaf- 
ness only  for  a  few  days,  and  those  days  I  passed  at  a  good  house.  I  have 
traversed  the  east  coast  of  Scotland  from  south  to  north  from  Edinburgh  to 
Inverness,  and  the  west  coast  from  north  to  south,  from  the  Highlands  to 
Glasgow,  and  am  come  back  as  I  went, 

"  Sir, 
"  Your  affectionate  humble  servant, 

"  SAM.  JOHNSON. 
"/««•  15,  1774- 

"  To  the  Reverend  Dr.  Taylor, 
"in  Ashbourn, 

"  Derbyshire." 


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INDEX. 


(BERBROTHICK,    94, 

105-7,  190. 

Aberdeen,  115-123;  free- 
dom of  the  city,  1 8, 116; 
population,  118;  King's 
College,    120;     Maris- 
chal  College,  no,  121  ;  professors,  122 

Academy,  279. 

Adams,  Rev.  Dr.  William,  66. 

Addison,  Joseph,  5,  62. 

Airdsmoss,  289. 

Allan  of  Muidart,  173. 

Amuse,  245. 

Anderson,  Rev.  John,  97. 

Anoch,  153. 

Arbroath.     See  ABERP.ROTHICK. 

Arbuthnot,  Dr.,  89. 

Ardnamurchan,  5,  214. 

Ardvoirlich,  254. 

Argyle,  Archibald,  second  Earl  of,  141. 

Argyle,  Archibald,  ninth  Earl  of,  217,  249. 

Argyle,  Archibald,  Marquis  of,  250. 

Argyle,  Elizabeth  Gunning,   Duchess  of, 
247,  249-252,  256. 

Argyle,  Jane,  Countess  of,  250. 

Argyle,  John,  second  Duke  of,  251. 

Argyle,  John,   fifth  Duke    of,    227,   246- 

253- 
Armidale,  23,  167,  214. 

Auchans,  268. 

Auchinleck,  Lord,  18,  56,  62,   74,  79,  80, 

115,  146,  189,  234,  271-288,  292. 
Auchinleck,  271-290;  house,   273-5;  °ld 

castle,  287 ;  viasacra,  manse,  church,  288 ; 

village,  289 ;  pronounced  Affleck,  290. 


Auchnacraig,  242. 
Auchnashcal,  144,  161. 
Authors,  60-3,  66. 

Bagpipes,  243. 

Ballencrieff,  297. 

Balliol  College,  84. 

Banff,  129. 

Banks,  Sir  Joseph,  24. 

Bare  feet,  289. 

Baronial  turrets,  113. 

Bathing,  112. 

Bayle,  Peter,  19. 

Beaton,  Cardinal,  94,  97. 

Beattie,  Rev.  Dr.  James,  13, 14,  28,  62,123. 

Beauclerk,  Topham,  66. 

Bedford,  Duke  of,  29. 

Beggars,  43. 

Bellhaven,  Lord,  39,  79. 

Bentham,  Jeremiah,  71. 

Berkeley,  Bishop,  92. 

Berkeley,  G.  M.,  92,  100,  117. 

Bernera,  165. 

Black,  Adam,  77. 

Black,  Mr.  Angus,  241. 

Black  Spring  of  1771,  187. 

Blacklock,  Dr.  Thomas,  75. 

Blackshields,  304. 

Blair,  Rev.  Dr.  Hugh,  10,  14,  63,  65,  74, 

81,  122,  278. 
Boats,  171. 
Boswell,  Alexander  (the  author's  father). 

See  LORD  AUCHINLECK. 
Boswell,  Sir  Alexander  (the  author's  eldest 

son),  283. 


310 


INDEX. 


Boswell,    David    (the    author's    brother), 

282,  284. 

Boswell,  James  (author  of  The  Life  of 
Johnson],  activity,  105,  178;  ancestry, 
272  ;  autograph,  287  ;  Court  of  Session 
Garland,  293  ;  descendants,  283-7  ; 
described  by  Miss  Burney,  276  ;  and 
by  himself,  277;  drunk,  4,  168,  213; 
facility  of  manners,  272;  family  pride, 
282;  fear  of  ghosts,  205;  feudal  enthu- 
siasm, 284 ;  funeral,  288  ;  good  land- 
lord, 290;  indifference  to  scenery,  86, 
275  ;  interested  in  the  Douglas  cause, 
56,  247,  272;  Life  of  Johnson,  285-6; 
love  of  London,  149;  manuscripts, 
285  ;  mentioned  by  Burns,  267  ;  no 
memorial  of  him,  77  ;  praises  savage 
life,  261;  pronunciation,  63;  Tour  to 
Corsica,  280,  285  ;  will,  284,  290. 

Boswell,  James  (the  author's  grandfather), 
272. 

Boswell,  James  (the  author's  second  son), 
284. 

Boswell,  Sir  James  (the  author's  grand- 
son), 284. 

Boswell,  Thomas  Alexander,  284. 

Boswell,   Veronica    (the    author's    eldest 
daughter),  75. 

Boswell,  Mrs.  (Lord  Auchinleck's  second 
wife),  271. 

Boswell,  Mrs.  (the  author's  wife),  55,  75, 
220,  267. 

Boswell  family,  286. 

Bothwell,  Earl  of,  69. 

Boyd,  Hon.  Charles,  128. 

Boyd,  James,  69. 

B  rax  field,  Lord,  293. 

Breadalbane,  Lord,  34. 

Breakfasts,  20. 

Brentford,  263. 

Brett,  John,  R.A.,  207. 

Brighton,  123,  199. 

Broadford,  3,  167,  169-171. 

Bruar  Water,  24,  33. 

Bruce,  King  Robert,  258. 

Buccleugh,  fifth  Duke  of,  77. 

Buchanan,  George,  37,  91,  200. 

Bullers  of  Buchan,  128. 

Burgynski,  Count,  279. 

Burke,  Edmund,  66,  76,  263,  277,  286,  294. 


Burlassig,  150. 

Burnet,  Bishop,  295. 

Burney,  Dr.,  296. 

Burney,  Miss,  276. 

Burns,  Robert,  Bruar  Water,  24,  33  ;  Ayr- 
shire scenery,  31;  Scotch  militia,  64; 
Holyrood  House,  85  ;  Miss  Burnet, 
112  ;  Inverary,  246;  Earnest  Cry  and 
Prayer,  267;  "Lugar's  winding  stream," 
280;  monument,  283;  his  genius  hidden 
by  his  dialect,  286. 

Bury,  Lord,  145. 

Bute,  Earl  of,  37. 

Byron,  Lord,  25. 

Cadell,  General,  C.B.,  302,  n.  \. 

Cambridge,  R.  O.,  296. 

Camden,  William,  27,  97,  264,  268. 

Cameron,  260. 

Cameron  of  Lochiel,  144,  282. 

Cameron,  Mrs.,  of  Talisker,  210. 

Cameronians,  289. 

Campbell,  Rev.  Dr.  Archibald,  90,  n.  2. 

Campbell,  Sir  Hugh,  142. 

Campbell,  Dr.  John,  14. 

Campbell  of  Inverliver,  141. 

Campbell  of  Treesbank,  267. 

Campbell,  — ,  4,  n.  2. 

Candles,  4. 

Canning,  George,  117. 

Carlisle,  fifth  Earl  of,  26. 

Carberry  Hill,  69. 

Carlyle,  Rev.  Dr.   Alexander,  43,  65,  69, 

265,  297-9,  303. 
Carlyle,  Jane  Welsh,  96,  118. 
Carlyle,  Thomas,  39,  52,   68,  79,  86,  88, 

89,  202,  291. 
Caroline,  Queen,  48. 
Cathedrals,  133. 
Caves,  205-6,  226. 
Cawdor,  135-142. 
Cawdor,  Earl  of,  141. 
Chamberlain,  251. 
Chambers,  Sir  Robert,  68. 
Chambers,    Dr.    Robert,    97,    236,    269, 

293- 

Chambers,  William,  77. 
Change-house,  219. 
Chapels,  118. 
Charles  I.,  278,  280. 


INDKX. 


Charles  II.,  250. 

Charles  Edward,  Prince,  the  Young  Pre- 
tender, 53,  64,  119-20,  179,  182-84, 
206,  269. 

Charlotte,  Queen,  77. 

Chatham,  Earl  of,  64,  171,  231. 

Chesterfield,  Earl  of,  15,  n.  3,  274,  n.  i. 

Chrystal,  Rev.  Dr.  James,  288,  290. 

Churches,  43,  81,  108,  176. 

Civility,  19. 

Clan  feeling,  259. 

Clarke,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel,  19. 

Climate,  20,  30. 

Clow,  Professor,  263. 

Coaches,  264. 

Coal,  262. 

Cockburn,  Lord,  58,  59,  80,  81. 

Cockburn,  Sheriff,  56. 

Cockers  Arithmetic,  154. 

Cocoa  Tree  Club,  297. 

Col,  Isle  of,  24,  214-6,  236. 

Col,  Macleane  of.     See  MACLEANE. 

Coleridge,  S.  T.,  162. 

Colliers,  69,  236,  259. 

Colman,  George,  117. 

Colquhoun,  Sir  James,  257. 

Colvay,  217. 

Commissary  Court,  261. 

Coote,  Sir  Eyre,  142. 

Copyright,  61. 

Corrichatachin,  4,  21,  167-70,  212. 

Corsica,  201,  204,  280. 

Court  of  Session,  78. 

Court  of  Session  Garland,  293. 

Covenanted  magistrates,  275. 

Coventry,  Countess  of,  248,  250. 

Cox,  G.  V.,  117. 

Craig,  James,  57. 

Craigie,  Lord  President,  58. 

Craignure,  4,  233. 

Cranston,  302. 

Cromartie,  Earl  of,  298. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  35,68,  145,  250,  278. 

Crosbie,  Andrew,  64. 

Cuchullin  Hills,  204. 

Culloden,  60,  127,  142,  146,  152,  155,  298. 

Cumberland,  Richard,  190. 

Cumberland,  William,  Duke  of,  27,  102, 
118,  123,  129,  142-6,  152,  155,  171, 
298. 


Cunninghame,  268. 
Cupar,  88. 

!  Dalrymple,  Sir  David.   See  LORD  HAILEH. 
.   Dalrymple,  Sir  John,  63,  302-4. 
|  Dancing,  178. 

Darnhall,  297. 

Davies,  Thomas,  280. 

Defoe,  Daniel;  34,36,  51,  99,  107,  131, 
145,  264. 

DC  Hipster,  235. 

Dempster,  George,  8. 

Dinner-hour,  65. 

Discounts,  98. 

Doge  of  Genoa,  23. 

Dominies,  278. 

Douglas,  Duchess  of,  63. 

Douglas,  Elizabeth,  113. 

Douglas  Cause,  56,  247,  272. 

Drinking,  91. 

Drumclog  Moor,  290. 

Drummond  of  Hawthornden,  304. 

Drummond,  George,  of  Blair,  35,  44  n.  3. 

Drummore,  Lord,  58. 

Dryden,  John,  109. 

Dun,  Rev.  John,  288. 

Dun  Buy,  129,  238. 

Dun  Can,  2,  177. 

Dunbar,  68. 

Dunbarton,  262. 

Dundas,    Henry.       See   VISCOUNT    MKL- 

VILLE. 

Dundee,  12,  105. 
Dundee,  Marquis  of,  109. 
Dundonald  Castle,  267,  270. 
Dungeons  and  pits.  198,  234-9. 
Dunolly  Castle,  244. 
Dunvegan,  1-3,  19,  184-204,  235. 
Durham,  87. 

Durham  on  the  Galatians,  281. 
Dutch  Scotch  Regiments,  209. 

Edinburgh,  Advocates'  Library,  80 ;  Bridge, 
58;  Cadies,  54;  Castle,  85  ;  Chessel's 
Buildings,  72  ;  College  VVynd,  82 ; 
Cowgate,  82;  Cross,  53,  81  ;  English 
residents,  37;  Grass  Market,  53  ;  Guard 
House,  78  ;  hackney  coaches,  65  ;  High 
Street,  51-4;  Holyrood  House,  77,  85, 
295;  hotbed  of  genius,  9  ;  houses,  45  ; 


3I2 


INDEX. 


inns  and  taverns,  45,  49-51;  69-72; 
James's  Court,  57,  67,  72-7;  Laigh 
Parliament  House,  80  ;  Luckenbooths, 
52,  78;  Mound,  58;  New  Town,  57, 
59  ;  Parliament-House,  78  ;  Pleasance, 
50 ;  poor,  42  ;  Post-House  Stairs, 
82  ;  printing-houses,  61  ;  robberies, 
54  ;  Royal  Infirmary,  84  ;  scavengers, 
46  ;  "  Scotch  scene,"  60  ;  Sedans,  65  ; 
Select  Society,  48,  298;  St.  David's 
Street,  57;  St.  Giles,  81  ;  St.  John's 
Street,  113;  Stage-coaches,  60,  123  n. 
4,  264 ;  Sunday,  53 ;  suppers,  65 ; 
Tolbooth,  53,  78  ;  University,  58,  83  ; 
Weigh  House,  78;  White  Horse  Inn, 
68-72  ;  workhouse,  43,  85. 

Edwards,  Oliver,  196. 

Eglinton,  Earl  of,  35. 

Kglington,  Dowager  Countess  of,  268-70. 

Eilan  Donan  Castle,  158. 

Eldon,  Earl  of,  304. 

Eldon,  Countess  of,  190,  304. 

Elgin,  36.  I3°-4- 

Elibank,  Patrick,  Lord,    42,  65,    74,   75, 

85>  297-302- 
Ellon,  124. 
Emigration,  162,  176. 
Epictetus,  214. 
Errol,  Earl  of,  49,  124-27. 
Erse,  135,  147,  218,  266. 
Erskine,  Hon.  Andrew,  277. 
Erskine,  Hon.  Henry,  78. 
Erskine,  John,  55  n.  i. 
Eton,  294. 
Executions,  53. 


Fairbairn,  James,  304. 

Faochag,  160. 

Farming,  32,  34. 

Farms,  small,  112. 

Fergusson,  Dr.  Adam,  9,  63,  65. 

Ferneley,  206. 

Fielding,  Sir  John,  54. 

Findlater,  Lord,  130. 

Firth  of  Tay,  104. 

Fleet  Street,  275,  286. 

Foote,  Samuel,  m. 

Forbes,  Sir  William,  76. 

Fore-stairs,  92. 


Fores,  134. 

Forrest,  Henry,  93. 

Fort  Augustus,  143,  148,  152,  162. 

Fort  George,  142. 

Foster-children,  4. 

Foyers,  130,  150-51. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  74,  77. 

Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales,  296. 

Freedom  of  towns,  117. 

Fronde,  Mr.  J.  A.,  217,  290. 

Funeral  bill,  131. 

Funerals,  227,  241. 

Furca  et  fossa,  235. 

Gaelic.     See  ERSE. 

Garden,  Francis  (Lord  Gardenstone),  109. 

Gardens,  32,   35,  42,    105,    169,    175-76, 

190,  210,  240,  301 
Gardenstone  Arms,  109. 
Garnett,  Dr.  T.,  150,  161,  229,  232,  242. 
Garrick,  David,  76. 
Geddes,  Jenny,  81. 
General's  Hut,  150. 
George  I.,  69. 

George  II.,  48,  101,  127,  144. 
George  III.,  115,  120,  127,  300. 
George  IV.,  77,  283. 
Giant's  Causeway,  211. 
Gibbon,  Edward,  67,  230,  293. 
Gladstone,  Right  Hon.  W.  E.,  81,  n.  i, 

300,  «.  i. 

Glamis  Castle,  173. 
Glasgow,  94,  117,  123,  198,  262-66. 
Glen,  157. 

Glen  Clunie,  156-57. 
Glen  Croe,  5,  13,  253-55. 
Glen  Elg,  10,  20,  163-67. 
Glen  Morison,  2,  19,  153. 
Glen  Shiel,  156-60. 
Goat  Island,  174. 
Goldsmith,    Oliver,   3,    32,    33,   49,   244, 

285-87. 

Golf,  9,  n.  i,  98. 
Graham,  Marquis  of,  172. 
Graham,  Peter,  R.A.,  207. 
Grant,  Colonel,  136. 
Grant,  Rev.  Mr.,  136,  137. 
Grants  of  Glenmorison,  155. 
Gray,  Thomas,  26,  28,33,  45  «•  6,  47.  I23, 

143,  173- 


INDEX. 


Green,  Matthew,  103. 

Gunning,  Elizabeth.  &MRGYLE,  DUCHESS 

OF. 

Gustavus  Adolphus,  113. 


Hackney-coaches,  65. 

Haddington,  43,  68. 

Hailes,  Lord  (Sir  David  Dairy mple),  8,  14, 

80,  132,  292-97. 
Hailes,  Miss,  297. 
Hallam,  Arthur,  294. 
Hallam,  Dean,  294. 
Hamilton,  290. 
Hamilton,  Duke  of,  248. 
Hamilton,  Lady  Betty,  251. 
Hamilton,  Patrick,  93. 
Hamilton  of  Bangour,  269. 
Hawthornden,  304. 
Hebridean  sailors,  21. 
Hedges,  16,  109. 

Henderson,  Andrew,  144,  155,  171. 
Hereditary  Jurisdictions,    197,   228,  234- 

38- 

Heronry,  200. 

Hesiod,  95. 

Highlands  and  Hebrides,  air,  25  ;  books, 
168  ;  chiefs,  228;  dress,  171-73,  181- 
82,  203,  255  ;  fidelity  of  Highlanders, 
183;  like  Indians,  154,  161;  "  banditti," 
165  ;  unknown,  24. 

Hill,  Mr.  Frederick,  265. 

Hill,  Sir  Rowland,  170. 

Holland,  272,  274. 

Home,  John,  10,  39,  63,  298-99. 

Honest  man,  169. 

Hottentots,  15,  n.  3,  288. 

Houses,  15,  21,  32,  42,  45,  170,  177,  220, 
229,  240,  296. 

Hudibras,  138. 

HUME,  DAVID,  ill-will  to  England,  7  ;  bene- 
fits of  the  Union,  39  ;  house,  57,66,74- 
77  ;  in  the  mire,  59  ;  journey  to  London, 
59  ;  accent,  62,  67 ;  copy-money,  63  ; 
Poker  Club,  64  ;  cookery,  66;  "infidel 
writer,"  66 ;  conversation,  67  ;  father's 
house,  68  ;  no  statue,  77  ;  Advocates' 
Librarian,  80  ;  dread  of  the  sea,  87  ; 
Reynolds's  picture,  123;  Clow  preferred 
to  him,  263  ;  Lord  Hailes,  294  ;  Select 


Society,  298  ;  Mary,   Queen  of  Scots, 
299  ;  Dalyrymple's  Memoirs,  303. 
Humphry  Clinker,  38. 

Iceland,  23. 

Inch  Galbraith,  257. 

Inch  Keith,  85. 

Inch  Kenneth,  6,  218,  221-25. 

Innes,  Rev.  Dr.,  90,  n.  2. 

Inns,  49,  69,  89,  151,  165,  180,  219,  229, 

245-46,  262,  304. 
Inverary,  232,  245-53,  257. 
Invermoriston,  152. 
Inverness,  137,  142-48. 
lona,  214,  226-31. 
'   Ireland,  64. 
Irish  people,  14. 
Irvine,  Robert,  113. 
Irving,  Edward,  86,  88,  291. 
Irving,  Mr.  Henry,  140. 
Isa,  174,  199. 
Isle  of  Muck,  199. 

James  IV.,  120. 

James  V.,  180. 

James  VI.,  135. 

James  II.  of  England,  182,  250,  295. 

Jardine,  Rev.  Dr.,  65. 

Jeffrey,  Francis  (Lord  Jeffrey),  33,  62  «. 

9.  256. 

Johns  of  Scotland,  The  Four,  158. 

Johnson  Club,  160,  173. 

Johnson,  Michael,  23. 

JOHNSON,  SAMUEL,  affection  for  Boswell, 
272  ;  altercation  with  Lord  Auchinleck, 
278-281  ;  behaviour  at  Dunvegan,  188  ; 
broad-sword,  24 ;  never  complained, 
20;  complimented  on  his  return,  22  ; 
cups  of  tea,  189,  204;  dangers  of  his 
voyage,  21  ;  delicate  in  his  language, 
1 96  ;  Dictionary,  168;  dominie,  278; 
dread  of  the  Highlanders,  154,  161  ; 
dukes  and  lords,  270  ;  Erse  New  Testa- 
ment, 266;  feared  by  professors,  122, 
263 ;  fresh  air,  47  ;  fretful,  164;  harasssed 
by  invitations,  292  ;  hatred  of  exaggera- 
tion, 22  ;  hogshead  of  sense,  232  ;  imi- 
tates the  kangaroo,  137;  "Island  Isa," 
174;  laced  clothes,  260;  in  a  library, 
295  ;  love  of  life,  297  ;  journey  to 


s  s 


INDKX. 


Edinburgh  and  return,  59,  304  ;  Journey 
1o  the  Hebrides,  17,  156,  259;  lemonade, 
71,  107;  levee,  75;  meals,  to;  objects 
of  his  tour,  24:  Odes,  i,  168;  peats, 
3  ;  politeness,  257  ;  projected  monu- 
ment, 288  ;  retirement,  95  ;  roving 
among  the  Hebrides,  23,  227  ;  sacrilege, 
132;  Sassenach  mohr,  i;  scenery,  24- 
29,  86,  1 20,  245  ;  Scotch  feeling  towards 
him,  7-16,  259,  300  ;  his  feeling  towards 
them,  7,  16;  sleep,  152;  spurs,  173; 
tavern-life,  299;  traditions  of  him,  1-7, 
156,  164,  189,  191,  204,  296,  302  ; 
Ursa  Major,  79;  walking-stick,  2,  34, 
173,  176,  220;  wig,  3,  197,  writing 
doggedly,  81  ;  young  English  buck, 
182. 
Johnston,  2,  5,  12,  195,  234. 

fonson,  Ben,  304. 

Jopp,  Provost,  1 1 6. 

Jougs,  138. 

Judges,   on  circuit,   115;    their  brutality, 
293- 

Kames,  Lord  (Henry  Home),  34,  41,  43, 

62,  66,  80,  274. 
Kangaroos,  137. 
Keith,  —  66. 
Kerr,  Lord  Mark,  123. 
Kerrera,  242. 
Kilarovv,  235. 
Kilmarnock,  271. 
Kilmarnock,  Earl  of,  126. 
Kincardine,  Countess  of.  272. 
Kinghorn,  86-7. 
Kingsburgh,  181. 
Kinnoul,  Earl  of,  228. 
Kirkcaldy,  87-8. 
Knives  and  forks,  43,  252. 
Knox,   John  (the  reformer),    16,  81,  94, 

95-6- 

Knox,  John,  the  traveller,  9,  45,  148,  161, 
165,  187,  189,  204,  209,  243,  263. 

Lady,  title  of,  189. 
Land,  74,  n.  2. 
Lauderdale,  Earl  of,  49. 
Laurencekirk,  109. 
Leach,  — ,25. 


I.eechman,  Principal,  266. 
Leuchars,  103. 
Leven,  Earl  of,  49. 
:    Lewis,  Island  of,  182-3. 
Libraries,  84,  100. 
Lichfield,  91,  133,  220. 
Linlithgow,  171. 
Lismore,  n. 
Loch  Awe,  141,  245. 
Loch  Bracadale,  204,  206. 
Loch  Buie,  5,  233-242. 
Loch  Uuich,  2,  163. 
Loch  Eollart,  185. 
Loch  Fyne,  247,  253. 
Loch  Grishinish,  184. 
Loch  Harport,  211. 
Loch  Hourn,  144. 
Lochiern,  21. 

Loch  Lomond,  6,  25,  30,  253,  255-61. 
Loch  Na  Keal,  218. 
Loch  Ness,  27,  30,  149-52. 
Loch  Snizort,  181,  184. 
Loch  Uisk,  233. 
Lochbuy,  Laird   of  (John  Macleane),  5, 

233-42. 

Lochbuy,  Lady,  6,  189,  234. 
Lochbuy,     Macleane     of,     (the     present 

Laird),  237,  240,  242. 
Lodore,  151. 

Loudoun,  Countess  of,  296. 
Loudoun,  Earl  of,  270. 
Lovat,  Lord,  141. 
Lugar,  280,  287. 
Luss,  255,  258. 
Lyttelton,  Lord,  15  n.  3. 

Macaulay,    Lord,     n,     135,     137,     253, 

285-87. 

Macaulay,  Rev.  John,  n,  253. 
Macaulay,  Rev.  Kenneth,  135-59. 
Macaulay,  Zachary,  253. 
Macbeth,  147. 

Macdonald,  Sir  Alexander,  6,  22,  167. 
Macdonald,  Flora,  19,  181-83. 
Macdonald,  Sir  James,  180. 
Macdonald  of  Kingsburgh,  182,  184. 
Mackenzie,  Henry,  63. 
Mackenzie,  Mrs.  145 
Mackenzies,  clan  of,  158. 
Mackinnon,  Lachlan,  170. 


INDEX. 


Mackinnon,  Mrs.,  168. 

Mackinnon's  Cave,  226. 

Mackintosh,  Sir  James,  226. 

Mackintoshes,  clan  of,  155. 

Macleane,  Sir  Allan,  6,  218,  221-30   234. 

Macleane  of  Col,  4,  21,  35,  211  ,220,  226, 

234- 

Macleane  of  Drumnen,  25. 
Macleane,  Dr.,  218. 
Macleane  of  Lochbuy.     See  LOCHBUY. 
Macleane,  Miss,  218. 
Macleod  of  Macleod,  Miss,  2,  191,  284. 
Macleod,  Lady,  189-90,  194. 
Macleod,  Laird  of,  2,  29,  177,  186-9,  209. 
Macleod,  the  old  Laird  of,  187,  192. 
Macleod,  Major  Alexander,  189. 
Macleod,  Colonel,  187,  207-9. 
Macleod,  John,  of  Raasay,   19,   171,  174- 

79- 

Macleod,  Malcolm,  171-73,  179. 
Macleod,  Mrs.,  of  Ulinish,  204. 
Macleod,  Rev.  Neal,  231. 
Macleod,  Sir  Roderick,  193. 
Macleod's  Maidens,  194,  207. 
Macleod's  Tables,  197. 
Macpherson,  James,  10,  n,  63. 
Macquarrie  of  Ulva,  220. 
Macqueen,  Rev   Donald,  4,  18,  171,  177, 

179. 

Macsweyn,  3  ft.  i,  35. 
Magus  Moor,  88. 
Maine,  Sir  Henry,  177. 
Mallet,  David,  62. 
Mam  Rattaclian,  2,  164,  241. 
Man  not  naturally  good,  189. 
Mansfield,  Earl  of,  20,  1 24. 
Martin,  M.,  23,   173,   175,   179,  198,  200, 

206,  216. 

Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  69,  106,  250,  299. 
Mason,  Rev.  William.  28.  151. 
Matheson,  Rev.  Alexander,  145  n.  i,  156, 

162. 

Matthews,  Charles,  284. 
McCraas,  144,  161. 
Meals,  20,  41,  43-5,  165. 
Medical  men,  232. 
Melville,  Viscount,  (Henry  Dundas),  77, 

80. 

Merk,  Scotch,  121. 
Mile  stones,  253. 


Militia,  64. 

Millar,  Andrew,  14. 

Milne,  Walter,  93. 

Ministers,  19. 

M'Nicol,  Rev.  Donald,  11,  135  «.  i. 

Moidart,  144. 

Monboddo,  Lord  (James  Burnet),  15,  18, 

80,  1 10-15,  276>  3°o. 
Monboddo  House,  113. 
Montgomery,  Lord  Chief  Baron,  58. 
Montrose,  104,  107. 
Moray,  Bishop  of,  1 20. 
Mordaunt,  Brigadier,  298. 
More,  Hannah,  1 1  r. 
Moy,  233. 

Mull,  6,  218-20,  227,  231-42. 
Murdoch,  William,  289. 
Murray.  Dr.  James  A.  H.,  ti8. 
Murison,  Rev.  Dr.,  too. 
Muthill,  119. 

Nairn,  134. 

Nairne,  Colonel,  tor. 

Nairne,  Lord,  101. 

Nairne,  William  (Lord  Dunsinan),  85. 

Napkins,  252. 

Neat,  45,  108,  291. 

New  Hailes,  2,  291-7. 

Newcastle,  first  Duke  of,  274. 

Newcastle  Fly,  59. 

Nivernois,  Duke  de,  66. 

Nonjurors,  119. 

Northcote,  James,  123. 

Northumberland,  109. 

Oats,  42,  242,  257. 

Oban,  242-44. 

Ochiltree,  288. 

Ogden,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel,  75. 

Oglethorpe,  General,  49,  n.  2. 

Old  Mortality,  289. 

Onmi,  112. 

Ormond,  Duke  of,  158. 

Ossian,  18,  20,  294. 

Ostig,  213. 

Otaheite,  261. 

Oxford,  98,  100,  117,  266,  304. 

Paoli,  Pascal,  74,  278-80,  287. 
Patriarchal  life,  177. 


INDEX. 


Patronage,  90. 

Paufer,  Thomas,  130. 

Paul,  SirG.  O.,  221. 

Peasants,  33,  34,  40-43,  112. 

Pembroke  College,  Oxford,  97. 

Penance  rings,  137. 

Pennant,  Thomas,  24,  28,  34,  82,  91,  98, 
I09.  IT7,  137,  M9.  l65.  '95.  2".  229> 
235.  246-47.  249.  253,  264,  304. 

Percy,  Dr.  Thomas  ( Bishop  of  Dromore), 

22. 

Perth,  117,  172. 

Philibeg,  171. 

Pictish  Forts,  167. 

Pinkie,  69. 

Pitcairne,  Dr.  Archibald,  109. 

Pitfour,  Lord,  146. 

Pitt,  William.     See  EARL  OF  CHATHAM. 

Pius  IX.,  106. 

Plaids,  147,  171. 

Plane  trees,  101,  n.  2. 

Plutarch,  i i i. 

Poker  Club,  64,  303. 

Poland,  279. 

Porteous  Riots,  78. 

Porter,  Lucy,  220. 

Portraits,  192. 

Portree,  180,  184. 

Post  chaises,  68,  87,  148. 

Posts,  123,  145,  170,  262,  292. 

Potatoes,  35. 

Presbyterians,  274. 

Preston  Pans,  69. 

Prince  Charlie's  Caves,  206. 

Pringle,  Sir  John,  74,  274,  281. 

Prisons,  54,  146.     See  DUNGEON. 

Pulteney,  William  (Earl  of  Bath),  232. 

Querns,  211. 
Quin,  James,  280. 

Raasay,  2,  19,  142,  171-79. 
Raeburn,  Sir  Henry,  192. 
Ramsay,  Allan,  77,  267,  269,  298. 
Ramsay,  John,  of  Ochtertyre,  45,  56,  174, 

189,  241,  272,  278,  294. 
Ranelagh  Gardens,  49. 
Rattachan.     See  MAM  RATTACHAN. 
Ray,  James,  129,  149. 


Rebellion  of  i  745-46,  101,  119,  123,  127, 

129,  134,  142-46,  149-52,   154-55.  '71, 

179,  181,  264-65,  296,  298. 
Reformation,  The,  16. 
Reid,  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas,  63,  120,  263. 
Reynolds,  Sir  Joshua,   17,  123,  127,  249, 

277,  283. 

Ritter,  Joseph,  86. 
Rizzio,  David,  85. 

Roads,  87,  147-48,  184,  224,  245,  260 
Robert  II.,  267. 
Robertson,  Rev.  Dr.  William,  14,  22,  48, 

63,  66,  77,  81-5,  123,  223,  298-99. 
Robinson,  "  Peter,"  79. 
Rochester,  Earl  of,  91. 
Rogers,  Samuel,  59. 
Roger,  Professor  Thorold,  237. 
Rollo,  Lord,  119. 
Room-setters,  71,  n.  4. 
Rorie  More,  186,  190,  193-96. 
Rosedew,  257. 
Rosslyn  Chapel,  304. 
Rosslyn,  first  Earl  of,  287. 
Rousseau,  5,  77,  in,  287. 
Rowlandson,  Thomas,  281. 
Royal  Charlotte,  192. 
Ruddiman,  Thomas,  80,  109. 
Rum,  Isle  of,  213. 
Ruskin,  John,  57. 
Russell,  Lord  William,  303. 


Sacheverell,  William,  162,  216,219,  229. 

Sacrament-Sunday,  201. 

Saint-Fond,  Faujas  de,  29,  51,  84,  90,  92, 
96-7,  243.  252-56. 

Sailers,  69,  236. 

Saluting,  182. 

Sandiland,  224. 

Scalpa,  173. 

Scarsdale,  Lord,  168. 

Scenery,  24-34,  87,  218. 

Schools,  259. 

Sconser,  211. 

SCOTCH,  boastful,  14  ;  clannish,  14  ;  com- 
bination, 14,  39;  decencies  of  life  neg- 
lected, 41-8;  English  abuse,  38;  Eng- 
lish ignorance  of  them,  24,  36;  English 
imitated,  7,  60-3  ;  historical  nation,  63  ; 
hospitality,  65 ;  ill-fed,  41 ;  learning, 


INDKX. 


60,    290  ;  neglect  of  the  beautiful,  32  ;   ; 
outcry    against    Johnson,    8-15;    road  ! 
to  England,  38  ;  sensitive  to  criticism, 
7  ;  vigour  of  character,  32,  38,  40 
Scots  Hunters,  49. 
Scots  Magazine,  7. 

SCOTT,  SIR  WALTER,  Lord  Auchinleck, 
274,  278;  Sir  A.  Boswell,  283-84;  Bu- 
chanan a  favourite  author,  91  ;  colliers 
and  sailers,  259;  cruise  in  1814,  124; 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  143;  death  of 
Col,  220;  dominies,  279;  at  Dunvegan, 
188,  191,  193,  195;  Lord  Elibank,  298; 
Highland  accommodation,  8;  Highland 
dress,  172;  house  in  the  College  Wynd, 
48.  78  ;  Inch  Kenneth,  221  ;  inns,  151  ; 
lona,  229 ;  Johnson  and  Adam  Smith, 
263;  Johnson's  Ode,  168;  last  quota- 
tion from  Johnson,  83  ;  Johnston,  234 ; 
Lord  Monboddo,  112,  114;  Old  Mor- 
tality, 291  ;  Peveril  of  the  Peak,  79; 
his  popularity,  286 ;  Scotch  learning, 
6 1  ;  Archbishop  Sharpe,  88;  at  St. 
Andrews.  96  ;  in  Skye,  i ;  Lord  Stowell, 
71;  at  Tobennory,  217;  trees,  34; 
Wizard  of  the  North,  38. 

Scott,  William  (Lord  Stowell),  68,  71. 

Seaforth,  Lord,  161. 

Sharpe,  Archbishop,  88,  97. 

Sheep-shearing,  163. 

Shenstone,  William,  72,  214. 

Sidney,  Algernon,  303. 

Sikes,  Sir  Charles,  285. 

Silver  fork,  252. 

Singing,  173. 

Singing-birds,  163. 

Skinner,  Rev.  John,  119. 

Skye,  the  verge  of  European  life,  170  ;  one 
magistrate,  i  77. 

Slains  Castle,  124-29. 

Slaves,  292. 

Sligachan,  211. 

Smallet  of  Dumbarton,  217. 

SMITH,  ADAM,  praises  Boswell,  272  ;  con- 
versation, 278;  farming,  35  ;  Kirkaldy, 
66,  87-8  ;  old  town  of  Edinburgh,  59 ; 
peasantry,  41  ;  professor  at  Glasgow, 
263 ;  reported  quarrel  with  Johnson, 
263  ;  room  in  Hume's  house,  67,  74  ; 
Select  Society,  298;  no  statue  to  him, 


77  ;  tax  on  coal,  263  ;  the  Union,  39  ; 
Wealth  of  Nat  ions,  63. 

Smith, ,  an  architect,  294. 

Smoking,  91. 

Smollet,  Commissary,  260. 

SMOLLETT,  TOBIAS,  ancestor,  217;  beg- 
gars, 43 ;  churches,  82  ;  Edinburgh 
High  Street,  52;  Lord  Elibank.  297  ; 
funerals,  227  ;  Glasgow,  264;  Hamilton, 
291  ;  Highland  dress,  172;  and  meals, 
44  ;  Humphry  Clinker,  37  ;  inns,  50  ; 
living,  41,  46;  his  pillar,  261  ;  rebel 
prisoners,  155  ;  St.  Andrews,  91  ;  Tears 
of  Scotland,  142;  turnips,  36;  Union, 

39- 

Snuff,  161. 

Society  for  Propagating  Christian  Know- 
ledge, 266. 
Soldiers,  154,  165. 
Somerset,  Duke  of,  69. 
South,  Rev.  Dr.  Robert,  16  ft.  6. 
Southey,  Robert,  105  n.  \. 
Spanish  Invasion,  158,  217. 
Speke,  Captain,  136. 
Spey,  130. 
Spouse,  107. 

ST.   ANDREWS,   16,    17,  88-103;    Castle, 
92;  Cathedral,  94,  102;  Cloisters,  95; 
Glass's  Inn,  89  ;  nonjuring  parson,  1 19  ; 
professors'  dinner,   97 ;    St.   Leonard's 
College,   89;  St.  Mary's  College,  100; 
St.    Salvator's   College,  99 ;    St.    Rule, 
96;  streets,  91;  trees,  97;  University, 
98-9,  102. 
St.  Kilda,  198. 
Stablers,  51,  69. 
Staffa,  24,  226. 
Stairs,  Earl  of,  296. 
State  of  nature,  260. 
Steamboats,  256. 
Stewart,  Lady  Henrietta,  142. 
Stockdale,  Rev.  Percival,  98. 
Stone,  Jerome,  101. 
Strahan,  George,  186. 
Strahan,  William,  14,  59. 
Streatham,  176,  276. 
Strolimus,  212. 
Struan,  205. 

Stuart,  James,  of  Dunearn,  284. 
Stuckgown,  256. 


INDEX. 


Sugar-tongs,  6. 

Supper-parties,  65. 

Swift,  Jonathan,  82,  189,  191. 

Tait,  John,  264. 

Talisker,  206-1 1. 

Tarbet,  253,  255-57. 

Tay  Bridge,  240. 

Taylor,  Rev.  Dr.  305. 

Temple,  Sir  William,  61,  272. 

Temple,  Rev.  W.  J.,  267. 

Tennyson,  Lord,  249,  294. 

Thomson,  James,  57,  63. 

Thrale,  Mrs.,  i,  23,  168,  199,  292. 

Thrale,  Miss,  156,  224. 

Tobermory,  216-18. 

Toland,  John,  175. 

Toll-gates,  87. 

Topham,    Edward,    9,    42,    47,    50.    182, 

261. 

Towns,  their  oddness,  51. 
Tranent,  69. 
Transportation,  116. 
Trapaud,  Governor,  161. 
Trees,  16,  32-4,  149,  190,   227,  232,   249, 

275,  288,  296,  302. 
Trevelyan,  Sir  George,  135,  253. 
Turk's  Head  Coffee-house,  23,  292. 
Turnips,  35. 
Tytler,  A.  F.,  277,  304. 

Ulinish,  204. 
Ulva,  4,  218-221. 
Union,  15,  39,  236. 
Universities,  83,  99,  120-22,  265. 
Up  streets,  53,  ;/.  3. 
Utensils,  176. 

Vails,  48. 

Vegetables,  35,  44. 

Venice,  16. 

Vested  interests,  237. 

Village  communities,  177. 

Vitrified  forts,  148. 

Voltaire,  22,  123,  280. 

Wade,  General,  147,  150. 


Waggons,  87. 

Wales,  85. 

Walker,  Rev.  George,  289. 

Wallace,  Rev.  Robert,  D.D.,  9. 

Wallace,  Sir  William,  294. 

Waller,  Edmund,  121. 

Walpole,  Horace,  37,  64,  127,  132,  215, 
248,  250,  296-97,  303. 

Walpole,  Sir  Robert,  231. 

Walton,  Isaac,  102. 

Washing,  137. 

Washington,  George,  188. 

Watson,  Professor  Robert,  63,  89. 

Watts,  Mr.,  the  painter,  229. 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  301. 

WESLEY,  JOHN,  Aberbrothick,  105;  Aber- 
deen, 119;  arrested,  56;  Edinburgh 
dirt,  47  ;  freeman  of  Perth,  117  ;  fune- 
rals, 241 ;  Glasgow,  264-65;  Holy  Rood 
House,  85;  inns,  49;  Inverness,  145, 
149,  163;  Johnson's  Tour,  17;  meals, 
44  ;  mountain  scenery,  28  ;  Nairn,  135  ; 
preaching  to  the  Scotch,  40  ;  reforming 
mobs,  94;  Spey,  130  ;  St.  Andrews,  89, 
99;  towns,  51. 

Wheaten  bread,  44,  161,  257. 

Whigs,  282. 

Whisky,  245. 

White  Horse,  69. 

Whitefield,  Rev.  George,  76 

Wia,  205. 

Wilkes,  John,  66. 

William  III.,  274. 

Wilkie,  William,  D.D..  10. 

Wilson,  John,  77. 

Windows,  47. 

Wishart,  George,  93 

Witches,  90. 

Wolfe,  Major-General  James,  25,  41,  47, 
142-43,  145,  154,  171,  254. 

Worcestershire  Volunteers,  265. 

Wordsworth,  William,  28,  32,  135,  254. 

Writers  to  the  Signet,  222. 

Yew  Tree  Island,  258. 
Zoffany,  John,  188,  195. 


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